According to the data released by the Japan Iron and Steel Association (JISF), steel product orders, including specialty steels, booked by domestic steel consuming sectors in Japan in August this year amounted to 7.14 million metric tons, decreasing by 4.2 percent both compared to the previous month and year on year.
In August this year, ordinary steel product orders in Japan booked by the domestic construction sector increased by 2.8 percent month on month to 913,764 metric tons - up 14.8 percent year on year, while steel product orders booked by the Japanese automotive sector, including specialty steel, totaled 1.1 million metric tons, falling by 0.7 percent as compared to July and down 13.5 percent year on year. Japan's shipbuilding industry booked 310,962 metric tons of ordinary steel products in August, falling by 11.3 percent month on month and down 23.7 percent as compared to the same month of 2011.