Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) saidthat although Japan's steel demand will rebound slightly from October toDecember this year, it is expected that it will decline from January to Marchnext year compared with the same period this year.

The ministry said that from January to March 2020, Japan'ssteel demand is expected to exceed 21.7 million tons, a decrease of 3% from thesame period last year, but a slight increase of 0.3% from the previous quarter.Among them, the demand for ordinary steel is expected to be 17.1 million tons,a year-on-year decrease of 0.5%, and the demand for special steel is 4.6million tons, a 10% year-on-year decrease.