In January, Japan’s hot-rolled steel plates and sheets shipments amounted to about 627,000 tons, slightly increasing by 3.6% month on month but dropping by 7.6% from the corresponding period a year ago. Among them, 73.6% of them were sent to the domestic market, and the remaining 26.4% were used in the export market.

During the same period, the production of hot-rolled steel plates and sheets totaled about 703,000 tons, increasing by 21% month on month but decreasing by 6.7% year on year.

Meanwhile, Japan’s hot-rolled strip shipments were 1.29 million tons, decreasing by 0.7% from the previous month and growing by 5.8% year on year. Among them, 17.6% were used in domestic markets, and the rest of 82.4% were sent to the export market.