JAPAN DATA: Jan domestic crude steel production totaled 8.631 mln tons,
down 10.6% y/y, 5th consecutive monthly y/y fall, and largest drop since
-12.8% in October 2009, data from the Japan Iron and Steel Federation
showed. It followed -8.5% in December, -3.2% in November and -0.3% in
October. January output showed a relatively major drop, reversing strong
10.7% y/y gain in Jan 2011. Economists often use the data in forecasting
industrial output, whose Jan figures are due on Feb. 29. Steel
production accounts for around 6% of Japan’s overall manufacturing and
mining production. The federation sees domestic crude steel output for
fiscal 2011 at 105-106 mln tons, adding that the fiscal 2012 output will
be above 100 mln tons but will fall short of the fiscal 2011 output
level.