According to the data released by the
Japan Iron and Steel Association (JISF), steel product orders, including crude steel, semi-finished steel products and ordinary steel products, booked by domestic steel consuming sectors in
Japan in December 2011 amounted to 6.3 million metric tons, increasing by 8.5 percent compared to the previous month and down seven percent compared to December 2010.
In December 2011, ordinary steel product orders in
Japan booked by the domestic construction sector increased by one percent month on month to 911,881 metric tons - up 3.4 percent month on month and down 0.7 percent year on year, while ordinary steel product orders booked by the Japanese automotive sector reached 822,018 metric tons - rising by 4.4 percent as compared to November and up 9.4 percent year on year.
Japan's shipbuilding industry booked 401,753 metric tons of ordinary steel products in December, increasing by 5.5 percent month on month and down 14.3 percent as compared to the same month of 2010.