Tokyo — Ordinary carbon steel orders booked by Japanese mills in June rose 1% year on year and were up 1.3% from May at 5.59 million mt, data released Thursday by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation showed.
JISF officials responsible for the data were not available for comment Friday, but a Tokyo-based trader said that domestic demand has been firm, supporting orders.
Orders for domestic supply totaled 3.66 million mt, up 3.1% on year and edging up 0.2% from May, while orders for export dipped 2.7% on year but were up 3.5% from May at 1.93 million mt.
Of the domestic orders in June, those for construction rose 9.7% on year and were up 4.8% from May at 987,000 mt, and for manufacturing fell 2.9% on year and were down 2.8% on month at 1.54 million mt.
"Orders by auto-related customers decreased but not by a lot; we don't think demand from auto has decreased," the trader said.
By product, orders for H-beams in June rose 26.8% on year and were stable from May at 332,000 mt, for bars rose 2.3% on year and were up 5.5% on month at 654,000 mt, and for HRC fell 3.9% on year but edged up 0.4% from May at 1.75 million mt.
Another trader in Tokyo said construction demand may increase in the coming months for reconstruction works after recent natural disasters in western Japan.
