Japan’s crude steel production declined by 23.5pc to 6.6mn mt in April 2020 compared to 8.7mn mt in the same month in 2019 according to Japan Iron and Steel Federation data. Crude steel output declined by 16.8pc in April against 8mn mt in the prior month.
For the first four months of the year, crude steel production declined by 8.6pc to 30.7mn mt compared to 33.6mn mt during the same period in 2019. Of the total April output, 78.6pc was ordinary steel and 21.4pc specialty steel.
Pig iron production in Japan decreased by 24pc to 4.9mn mt in April compared to 6.5mn mt in April 2019. Pig iron production fell by 18.4pc during the month from 6mn mt in March 2020. Pig iron production from January-April 2020 declined by 5.9pc to 23.3mn mt compared to 24.8mn mt in the same period last year.
The production of hot rolled steel products declined by 22.1pc to 5.9mn mt in April 2020 from 7.5mn mt in the same month last year and was down by 16.9pc from the previous month. Hot rolled sheet production for January-April 2020 declined by 10.3pc to 26.9mn mt from 30mn mt in the same period in 2019.
Hot rolled steel production in April 2020 consisted of 80.7pc ordinary steel and 19.3pc specialty steel. Ordinary steel production of hot rolled steel declined by 19.9 pc to 4.7mn mt in April, while specialty steel production declined by 30.1pc to 1.1mn mt, both compared to the same month in 2019.
Hot rolled ordinary steel production declined by 8pc to 21.4mn mt in the first four months of 2020 from 23.3mn mt in the same period in 2019. The most substantial volume grades segments were hot rolled wide strip production at 12.8mn mt, sections at 1.7mn mt, bars at 2.7mn, and hot rolled sheet and plate at 3mn mt from January-April 2020.
Hot rolled specialty steel in the first four-months in 2020 declined by 18pc to 5.5mn mt from 6.7mn mt in the same period in 2019.