In July this year, domestic steel product consumption in Japan amounted to 3.48 million metric tons, up by 12.8 percent compared to June and falling by 20 percent year on year, according to the data released by the Japan Iron and Steel Association (JISF). Meanwhile, in the January-July period of the year, domestic steel product consumption in Japan decreased by 22.1 percent year on year to 24.49 million metric tons.
In the first seven months of the year, steel product consumption in the construction sector in Japan fell by 10.7 percent to 5.55 million metric tons, while steel product consumption in the Japanese automotive sector amounted to 5.14 million metric tons, down 32.4 percent, both on year-on-year basis. In the given period, Japan's shipbuilding industry consumed 1.93 million metric tons of steel products, declining by 16.6 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.