The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has recently predicted that Japan's steel demand would rise slightly in the Q3 2012.

METI estimated that the demand for finished steel products would be at 24.70 million tonnes in Q3 2012, up slightly by 0.7% QoQ and increasing by 1.6% YoY.

Among them, the demand for finished steel products from the domestic market will be at 15.92 million tonnes, up by 2% YoY and that from export market will be at 8.78 million tonnes, down by 1% YoY.

Meanwhile, the demand from the construction industry will rise, driven by the reconstruction after the disaster and that from the automobile industry will remain firm; however, the demand from the manufacturing industry will slide.

In addition, METI predicted that the steel demand from the Japanese shipbuilding industry would be at 11.40 million tonnes in the Q3, falling by 6% QoQ and decreasing by 20.4% YoY.

Source - www.yieh.com)

(www.steelguru.com)