According to the data released by the Japan Iron and Steel Association, ordinary steel product orders booked by domestic steel consuming sectors in Japan in the first half of this year amounted to 35.9 million metric tons, increasing by 37.19 percent year on year. Meanwhile, domestic specialty steel orders in the January-June period doubled as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, reaching 9.28 million metric tons.
In the first half of 2010, steel product orders, including specialty steels, in Japan booked by the domestic construction sector increased by 12.16 percent to 5.44 million metric tons, while steel product orders booked by the Japanese automotive sector reached 6.69 million metric tons, up 85.74 percent, both compared to January-June 2009. Finally, Japan's shipbuilding industry booked 2.798 million metric tons of steel products during the period in question, declining by 3.49 percent year on year
On the other hand, in June this year, ordinary steel product orders booked by Japanese steel consuming sectors amounted to 5.68 million metric tons, decreasing slightly by 0.43 percent compared to May and up 5.99 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, domestic specialty steel orders in June fell by 2.06 percent month on month and climbed by 48.81 percent year on year, totaling 1.54 million metric tons.
