It is reported that the 49 electrical furnace steel mills in Japan produced 6.188 million tonnes of crude steel in the first quarter of 2012, rising by 5.6% YoY from 5.845 million tonnes in the same period of a year earlier.

In the first quarter of 2012, Tokyo Steel's crude steel increased by 34.6% YoY; Asahi Industries' rose by 30.1% YoY; Tokyo Kotetsu's surged by 27.9% YoY and Tokyo Tekko's soared by 26.1% YoY.

The above steel mills are all located in Kanto region. As the electricity prices in the region started to increase from April 2012, the steelmakers enhanced the production in the first quarter before the price rise for electricity.

Source - www.yieh.com)

(www.steelguru.com)