Japan's April crude steel output falls 6.4% on weak construction demand (updated)

JFE Holdings

22/05/2025 10:33

April output declines to 6.6 mln tons

Robust Chinese exports pressure Japan's overseas shipments

Blast furnace shutdown contributes to supply drop

Recasts with details and quotes

By Yuka Obayashi

TOKYO, May 22 (Reuters) -
Crude steel output in Japan, the world's No.3 producer, fell 6.4% in April from a year earlier, pressured by sluggish construction demand and weak exports amid
robust shipments
 from top producer China.

Output, which is not seasonally-adjusted, declined to 6.6 million metric tons, following a small increase in the previous month, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said. Production also decreased 8.4% from March.

"Steel demand remained sluggish due to delays in construction projects caused by labor shortages and high material costs, while slumping overseas markets, driven by China's massive steel exports, hurt overseas shipments," a federation analyst said.

A blast furnace shutdown at the end of March also contributed to reduced supply, the analyst said, adding that it remains too early to assess any impact from U.S. tariffs.

Nippon Steel 5401.T shut a blast furnace at its Kashima plant, near Tokyo, in late March, while JFE Steel, a unit of JFE Holdings 5411.T, plans to temporarily halt one of its blast furnaces in western Japan from mid-May.

Tadashi Imai, the chairman of the federation,
warned
 in March that U.S. tariffs on steel and automobiles could reduce Japan's annual crude steel output by several million tons to below 80 million tons.

 (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi, Editing by Louise Heavens)

 ((Yuka.Obayashi@thomsonreuters.com; +813-4520-1265;))