In November, Japanese iron and steel production continued its steady rising trend, which had started in April this year but registered a slight decrease in September; meanwhile, the year-on-year comparisons have started to indicate increases due to the base effect, as the global economic downturn started to affect Japan's steel output in November 2008.
According to the data released by the Japanese Iron and Steel Federation (JISF), Japanese pig iron production in November this year totaled 6.66 million metric tons, increasing by 1.8 percent year on year, and up 0.7 percent compared to October. Meanwhile, the country's crude steel production in November amounted to 8.86 million metric tons, up 0.5 percent year on year, and increasing by 0.7 percent month on month.
In the first eleven months of the year, Japan's pig iron production reached 60.1 million metric tons, decreasing by 24.9 percent, while crude steel production totaled 78.58 million metric tons, down 29.4 percent, both compared to the same period of the previous year.
In November, Japan's steel section production amounted to 412,500 metric tons, down 6.4 percent, its bar production came to 757,400 metric tons, also down 6.4 percent, its wire rod output was 173,700 mt, up 1.1 percent, HR wide strip production was 3.65 million mt, down 1.7 percent, and CR wide strip output amounted to 1.86 million mt, up 0.2 percent, all compared to October 2009.
