Japan's September steel output up on 2005 figure

Japan's crude steel production rose 4.8 percent year on year to 9.61 million metric tons in September, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation has announced. On the other hand, crude steel output has remained unchanged compared to the previous month. For the first nine months of 2006, Japanese crude steel production reached 86.06 million metric tons, up 1.8 percent year on year.