Japan's crude steel output has reached a record high of 119 million tons since 1973, and has been stable at around 100 million tons for 40 years (except for 2009, it is about 88 million tons). In recent years, due to the small number of investment and expansion projects, Japanese crude steel production has changed little. In 2018, Japan's crude steel output was about 104.3 million tons, down 0.3% year-on-year. Although it has been declining for four consecutive years, the fluctuations are small and basically stable (see Figure 1. Japan's crude steel output in 2015 is about 105.2 million tons, down 5% year-on-year; about 104.8 million tons in 2016 and about 104.7 million tons in 2017).

Production: "Pugang fell, special steel increased"

In 2018, Japan's Pugang produced about 78.834 million tons, down 1% year-on-year (has been reduced for five consecutive years); special steel output is about 25.595 million tons, up 2% year-on-year (already for three consecutive years).

In terms of production methods, in 2018, Japan's converter steelmaking volume was about 78.23 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 1.4%; electric furnace steelmaking volume was about 26.098 million tons, an increase of 3.1%.

In 2018, the output of Japanese hot-rolled steel (total steel and special steel) was about 92.421 million tons, a decrease of 29,000 tons compared with the same period of last year (has been a downward trend for four consecutive years). Among them, the output of hot rolled products of Pugang is about 71.626 million tons, a decrease of 0.7% compared with the same period of last year (has been declining for five consecutive years); the output of special hot rolled steel products is about 20.86 million tons, an increase of 2.2% over the same period of last year (for 3 consecutive years) Growing trend). The production of various types of hot-rolled steel in Japan in 2018 is shown in Table 1.

Export: "To Thailand increase, to China decrease"

In 2018, Japan's steel exports amounted to approximately 36.53 million tons, a decrease of 4.2% year-on-year (which has been declining for five consecutive years). Among them, the export volume of Pugang was about 23.41 million tons, a decrease of 4.4% year-on-year (already for three consecutive years) Declined situation).

In terms of export varieties, in 2018, Japan's hot-rolled steel strip exports were about 10.32 million tons, down 12.3% year-on-year (which has been declining for three consecutive years); galvanized steel sheet exports were about 2.7 million tons, down 5.7 percent year-on-year. %; cold rolled wide strip exports of about 2.42 million tons, down 3.2% year-on-year (has been declining for eight consecutive years); heavy plate exports of about 2.83 million tons, an increase of 39.2% (for the first time in three years).

From the perspective of export destinations, Japan exported 5.87 million tons of steel to Thailand in 2018, an increase of 5.2% year-on-year (for the first time in two years); exports of 5.57 million tons of steel to mainland China, down 1.0% year-on-year (for the first time in three years); Exports of steel to South Korea were 5.39 million tons, down 9.5% year-on-year (down for the second consecutive year); 1.5 million tons of steel were exported to the United States, down 19.6% year-on-year (decreased for four consecutive years).

In terms of imports, in 2018, Japan imported 4.452 million tons of Pudong Steel, down 3.4% year-on-year. Among them, the import volume of hot-rolled wide steel strip was about 1.46 million tons, down 8.9% year-on-year; the import volume of cold-rolled wide steel strip was about 900,000 tons, down 4.1% year-on-year; the import volume of thick plates was about 500,000 tons, down from year on year. 28.6%; the import volume of galvanized steel is about 850,000 tons, an increase of 3.2%.

From the perspective of steel imports, steel from South Korea was 2.96 million tons, down 10.1% year-on-year (for the first time in three years); steel from China Taiwan was 950,000 tons, down 0.6% year-on-year (the first decline in two years); There are 460,000 tons of steel in mainland China, up 22.6% year-on-year (increased for the second consecutive year).

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metals plans to increase production

In FY 2018 (April 2018~March 2019), Nissin-Zu live gold production and profits both declined, and the average annual output of crude steel is expected to be 10.3 million tons. Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal plans to implement a production increase plan in FY 2019 (April 2019~March 2020) to increase the average annual crude steel output of the fiscal year to approximately 11 million tons.

It is understood that in order to solve the problem of aging equipment and frequent system failures of the new Oita steel mill and Wakayama steel mill, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo has increased the daily maintenance frequency and in February at the Geshan Steel Plant. A new blast furnace was built to replace its original old blast furnace.