The
production of rolled steel products
production forecast for the whole year calls for increasing output both for
Japan and South
Korea. An estimated increase of 250'000 tons is expected to be seen in Japanese
production while the expectations for
Korea are almost around 1 million tons of rolled products.
The good domestic demand experienced in
Korea together with strong sales to other regional countries will drive the
production upwards. The main driver to raise Japanese output is seen as the export sales of mainly flat products.
In
Japan, the rise of
production is forecasted to be mainly of flat products with the rising exports as well as good demand from the
automotive and
shipbuilding industries.
Longs production on the other hand, is expected to shrink by around 3% this year, due to the slow demand from the
construction sectors.
On the contrary,
Korea is experiencing a firm demand from the
construction sectors which will eventually result in a higher
longs production. Consequently a rise of about 1.8% over the last year's
production is expected to be seen this year. In the meantime, the greater proportion of the total rise of rolled steel
production is foreseen to be for flat products thanks to the steady
consumption of
shipbuilding industry as well as the
automotive. These two industries help raise the
production of
plate and galvanised coil manufacturers.