In April this year, Japan's seasonally adjusted industrial production increased 1.7 percent over the previous month, showing an increase for the fifth consecutive month, while the original index indicated a decrease of 2.3 percent compared to the same month last year. According to the Survey of Production Forecast in Manufacturing published by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), production is expected to be stable in May and to decrease 1.4 percent in June, both month on month.
According to the revised Indices of Industrial Production report, in April this year the Japanese iron and steel production index increased 0.8 percent year on year, while Japan's seasonally adjusted iron and steel production index rose 1.2 percent in April compared to March. Meanwhile, in April Japanese producers' iron and steel shipments rose by one percent and iron and steel inventories were up by 1.4 percent, both compared to the previous month. On year-on-year basis, the producers' iron and steel shipments fell by 1.8 percent, while iron and steel inventories in Japan were down by 2.2 percent in April.
In the month in question, crude steel production in Japan decreased by 3.1 percent compared to the previous month and was up by one percent on year-on-year basis, amounting to 9.2 million mt. In April this year, Japan produced 6.8 million mt of pig iron, up 1.8 percent, 79,439 mt of ferroalloy, up six percent, and 8.9 million mt of semi-finished steel, up 1.2 percent, all compared to April 2012.