TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan's crude steel production likely will reach a new record high this year of about 119.48 million tons, up 2.8 percent from 2006, on the back of brisk demand including for vehicles, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday.
The level of output will be above the existing record high of 119.32 million tons set in 1973 amid the era of high-speed growth in Japan.
Demand is strong from the manufacturing sector as a whole, including automakers who are stepping up exports, shipbuilders and industrial machine makers, the ministry said.
Crude steel output in the January-June first half of the year came to 59.42 million tons, a record for a half-year period.
