Domestic sales of ordinary carbon steel in Japan continued to fall in April, a decrease of 27.8% year on year to 2.63 million tons, slightly higher than that of 2.61 million tonnes in December 1968, according to data released by the Japanese iron and steel Federation (JISF).
According to the representative of JISF, flash COVID-19 and a state of emergency since April, has worsened the situation in the domestic steel market, as steel sales in Japan declined even before the outbreak COVID-19 due to several factors, including trade friction between China and the United States, the increase of the consumption tax in Japan from October 2019 and natural disasters, including the Typhoon that hit Japan at the end of 2019, he said Wednesday in an interview with Mysteel Global.
Sales in April also were 16.7 per cent lower compared with the previous month, and even lower than 2.66 million tons in March 2009, the worst month since the financial crisis of 2008, he said.
"the Negative impact of an outbreak of the coronavirus was clearly reflected in the April sales, and orders for steel in the automotive sector has almost halved that is a typical example of the response to an emergency and the anticipated decline in demand", - said the representative of JISF.
