Ordinary carbon steel orders booked by Japanese mills in November fell 2.7% year on year and 1.7% from October to 5.53 million mt, latest data from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation showed.
A JISF official said Thursday that the demand trend hasn't changed, so the drop in orders concluded was likely a supplier-side issue, adding that a decline in production at one of the Japanese mills had forced it to limit its acceptance of orders.
"So, whenever the mill's production level is lifted, order bookings should increase," he said.
JFE Steel, Japan's second-largest integrated mill, was forced to temporarily bank its No. 2 Kurashiki blast furnace at its West Japan Works in October, and its No. 6 Chiba blast furnace at its East Japan Works in December. Both have restarted, with plans to return to pre-banking levels by mid-January, and the production loss over the shutdown period is estimated at 900,000 mt, S&P Global Platts had previously reported.
A JFE spokesman said Thursday that both furnaces haven't reached pre-banking levels as of Thursday, and the company currently has no target date of when that would happen.
Orders for domestic supply totaled 3.69 million mt in November, down 2.2% year on year and 3.2% from October, and orders for export were down 3.9% on the year but up 1.6% on the month at 5.44 million mt.
The JISF official said overall domestic demand from both the construction and manufacturing sectors have been firm.
"Orders by automobiles in November was the highest in 2018, and we understand that the firm condition will continue," he said.
Byproduct orders, such as for hot-rolled coil, fell 10.2% on the year and 1.9% from October at 1.55 million mt. The JISF official said the drop in HRC orders was mainly due to the limiting of acceptance of orders for exports.
