Japan sees drop in steel production
Japan's crude steel production August declined for a second straight month in August. Data from the Japan Iron and Steel Federation show that the country's crude steel production fell 1.7 percent year on year to 9.23 million tons in August. Ordinary steel production decreased 3.7 percent to 7.21 million tons during the same period. On the other hand, specialty steel output for use in automobiles rose 5.9 percent to 2.02 million tons.