In January this year, Japan's industrial production increased by four percent from December and rose by 10.6 percent from January 2013, according to the preliminary indices of the Industrial Production report published by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
In January this year, the Japanese iron and steel production increased by 7.1 percent year on year, while Japan's seasonally adjusted iron and steel production rose 0.9 percent compared to December. Meanwhile, in the given month Japanese producers' iron and steel shipments increased by 2.5 percent and iron and steel inventories were down by 3.3 percent, both compared to December.
On the other hand, according to the ministry's preliminary Current Survey of Production report, in January this year Japan produced 7.22 million mt of pig iron, up 2.9 percent, 9.40 million mt of crude steel, up 6.1 percent, and 9.16 million mt of semi-finished steel, up 5.5 percent, all compared to January 2013.
According to the ministry's Survey of Production Forecast in Manufacturing, Japanese industrial production is expected to increase by 1.3 percent in February and decrease by 3.2 percent in March, both month on month. Meanwhile, Japanese iron and steel production is expected to remain unchanged in February and to decrease by 2.3 percent in March, both month on month.