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 March this year amounted to 7.85 million metric tons, increasing by four percent compared to the previous month and were up 2.15 percent year on year.
In March this year, ordinary steel product orders in Japan booked by the domestic construction sector increased by 14.3 percent month on month to 1.06 million metric tons - up nine percent year on year, while steel product orders booked by the Japanese automotive sector, including specialty steel, totaled 1.1 million metric tons, falling by four percent as compared to February and up 20.5 percent year on year. Japan's shipbuilding industry booked 363,446 metric tons of ordinary steel products in March, falling by eight percent month on month and down 26 percent as compared to the same month of 2011.