In May this year, Japanese crude steel production increased two percent compared to the previous month while it increased nine percent year on year, totaling 9.23 million mt, according to the data released by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF).
Meanwhile, the country's pig iron production in May this year totaled 6.85 million metric tons, increasing by two percent month on month and up 11.6 percent compared to the same month last year.
In the January-May period of this year, the country's pig iron output stood at 33.5 million metric tons and its crude steel production came to 44.87 million metric tons, with decreases of 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent both compared to the corresponding period of 2011.
Japan's steel product output tonnages in May 2012:
Product | May 2012 (mt) | Y-o-y change (%) | M-o-m change (%) |
Hot rolled section | 500,600 | -6.2 | 2 |
Bar | 831,700 | -0.5 | -0.7 |
148,800 | -1.9 | 9 | |
Heavy plate | 945,500 | -14.4 | - |
Hot rolled wide strip | 3,438,100 | -0.4 | 1.4 |
Cold rolled wide strip | 1,727,500 | 2.5 | 7 |
Galvanized sheet | 1,057,400 | 14 | 10.8 |
Welded pipe | 302,600 | -4.4 | 3.1 |