Crude steel output in Japan, the world's No.3 producer, fell 6.4% in April from a year earlier, pressured by sluggish construction demand and weak exports amid robust shipments from top producer China.
Output, which is not seasonally-adjusted, declined to 6.6 million metric tons, following a small increase in the previous month, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said. Production also decreased 8.4% from March.
"Steel demand remained sluggish due to delays in construction projects caused by labor shortages and high material costs, while slumping overseas markets, driven by China's massive steel exports, hurt overseas shipments," a federation analyst said.
A blast furnace shutdown at the end of March also contributed to reduced supply, the analyst said, adding that it remains too early to assess any impact from U.S. tariffs.
Nippon Steel 5401 shut a blast furnace at its Kashima plant, near Tokyo, in late March, while JFE Steel, a unit of JFE Holdings 5411, plans to temporarily halt one of its blast furnaces in western Japan from mid-May.
Tadashi Imai, the chairman of the federation, warned in March that U.S. tariffs on steel and automobiles could reduce Japan's annual crude steel output by several million tons to below 80 million tons.
Source: Reuters