According to the data released by the Japan Iron and Steel Association (JISF), steel product orders, including specialty steels, booked by domestic steel consuming sectors in Japan in October this year amounted to 7.26 million metric tons, increasing by 5.7 percent compared to September and up one percent year on year.
In October this year, ordinary steel product orders in Japan booked by the domestic construction sector increased by 1.7 percent month on month to 965,404 metric tons - up 10.5 percent year on year, while steel product orders booked by the Japanese automotive sector, including specialty steel, amounted to 1 million metric tons, falling by 1.4 percent as compared to the previous month and down 22.2 percent year on year. Japan's shipbuilding industry booked 270,311 metric tons of ordinary steel products in October, declining by 20.8 percent month on month and down 38.6 percent as compared to the same quarter of 2011.