According to a survey by the Ministry of Land,Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan, the demand for ordinary carbonsteel in the Japanese construction industry is expected to fall by 7.8%year-on-year in September this year. From August's data, the demand inSeptember was 1.65 million tons.

The forecast for September shows that the demand for profilesin the Japanese construction industry is expected to be 410,000 tons, up 1.6%year-on-year and 2.5% quarter-on-quarter, while bar demand is expected to be570,000 tons, down 5.7% year-on-year, but up 3.6% quarter-on-quarter.

A construction steel trader based in Tokyo said demand forsteel in September 2017 was strong, so the decline in demand for steel thisyear does not mean that demand for construction steel in Japan is declining. Hebelieves that the demand for steel in the Japanese construction industry willremain strong, so construction steel producers will keep their production at ahigh level.