According to Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan's output of hot rolled special steel products will decrease by 2.6 percent to 5.294 million metric tons in the second quarter of 2007. This will be the first drop in the last four quarters.
According to METI, the estimated production is 1.9 percent higher than demand outlook as of March. However, the output decrease is due to lower automobile output.