According to the data released by the Japan Iron and Steel Association, steel product orders, excluding specialty steels, booked by domestic steel consuming sectors in Japan in July this year amounted to 3.6 million metric tons, increasing by 4.9 percent compared to the previous month and up 5.2 percent year on year.
In July this year, ordinary steel product orders in Japan booked by the domestic construction sector increased by 6.9 percent month on month to 888,993 metric tons - up 16.8 percent year on year, while steel product orders booked by the Japanese automotive sector, excluding specialty steel, reached 772,837 metric tons, rising by 1.1 percent as compared to June and up 1.7 percent year on year. Japan's shipbuilding industry booked 350,502 metric tons of ordinary steel products in July, increasing by 5.4 percent month on month and down 17.1 percent as compared to the same month of 2011.