The Japanese Iron and Steel Federation (JISF) has announced Japan's steel production results for March this year, when the country was hit by a disastrous earthquake and a nuclear crisis afterwards.
Accordingly, in March Japanese pig iron production declined by 3.3 percent year on year totaling 6.78 million mt, up by 3.1 percent over February. Meanwhile, the country's crude steel production in March amounted to 9.09 million metric tons, down 2.7 percent year on year and rising by 1.7 percent month on month. The country's crude steel production saw a drop on year-on-year basis for the first time in 17 months.
However, in the first quarter of 2011, the country's pig iron output stood at 20.71 million metric tons and its crude steel production came to 27.68 million metric tons, with respective increases of 3.1 percent and 4.4 percent, both compared to the corresponding period of 2010.
In March, Japan's steel section production amounted to 494,400 metric tons, up 3.8 percent, its bar production came to 773,200 metric tons, down 1.1 percent, its wire rod output was 149,300 mt, down 6.5 percent, heavy plate output reached 1.12 million metric tons, up 8.8 percent, HR wide strip production was 3.72 million mt, down 3.6 percent, CR wide strip output amounted to 1.77 million mt, down 0.9 percent, galvanized sheet production totaled 1.3 million metric tons, up 3.6 percent, and welded pipe output was 343,400 metric tons, increasing by 4.2 percent, all compared to February.