Japanese steel demand was roughly flat month-on-month in September but was up 4.8% year-on-year, according to the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (Jisf). That was just enough to push orders received over the first six months of the financial year slightly up y-o-y, Kallanish notes.

Total orders received by mills were down -1.4% m-o-m to 5.76 million tonnes in September and up 0.7% y-o-y to 34.56mt over April-September. Domestic orders were up 1.4% m-o-m and 4.3% y-o-y in September to 3.68mt, and up 0.5% y-o-y over April-September at 21.31mt.

Over the six month period both construction and manufacturing saw very slow growth but in September it was clear that construction was the more positive of the two. September construction steel orders were up 6.1% m-o-m and 6.4% y-o-y at 960,000t, while over April-September they were up 0.4% at 5.57mt. Manufacturing orders, meanwhile, were down -1.4% m-o-m but up 4% y-o-y at 1.66mt in September, and up 0.2% at 9.4mt over the first six months of the financial year.