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 June this year amounted to 7.2 million metric tons, decreasing by four percent compared to May and up 1.2 percent year on year.
In the first half, Japan's domestic steel product orders, including specialty steels, amounted to 44.9 million mt, decreasing by 0.5 percent compared to the first half of 2012.
In the first half, ordinary steel product orders in Japan booked by the domestic construction sector increased by 8.5 percent year on year, amounting to 6 million mt, while steel product orders booked by the Japanese automotive sector, including specialty steel, came to 6.2 million metric tons, falling by 7.8 percent as compared to the same half last year. Japan's shipbuilding industry booked 1.7 million metric tons of ordinary steel products in the first half, down 20.3 percent as compared to the same quarter of 2012.