Japanese crude and hot rolled steel output fell further in February, according to data released by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (Jisf). Weak export volumes and lacklustre domestic demand in recent months have combined with technical issues to limit output, Kallanish notes.

In February, Japanese mills produced 7.743 million tonnes of crude steel, down -4.9% month-on-month and -6.6% year-on-year. That has left crude steel output over the financial year-to-date – April 2018-February 2019 – down -2% on-year at 93.804mt. Hot rolled steel output, meanwhile, was down -8.5% m-o-m and -6.2% y-o-y in February to 6.934mt, and down -1.1% over April-February at 83.468mt.

Japanese mills have reported declines in orders received in recent months. January orders were down -10.8% m-o-m and -8.4% y-o-y to 5.013mt. Weak export volumes remain the main driver, but construction demand has also been faltering in recent months.