The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan expects that the fourth quarter of Japan's crude steel output will benefit from the strong demand of the domestic automotive industry, industrial and construction machinery industry, and is expected to achieve year-on-year growth.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry predicts that Japan’s crude steel output will rise to 26.45 million tons in the fourth quarter, up 0.2% year-on-year, while production in the third quarter fell slightly.

About 40% of Japan's steel output is exported. Although the Sino-US trade war is escalating and the United States imposes high tariffs on imported steel, Japan's steel exports in the third quarter are expected to rise by 0.5% year-on-year.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Minister of Metal Industry Noriyuki Kuroda said at a news conference on Tuesday that the high US steel tariffs would not have much impact on Japanese exports.

“The amount of steel exported from Japan to the United States has recently shrunk slightly, but the decline in exports is due to strong domestic demand in Japan, rather than high US tariffs,” Noriyuki Kuroda said.

He also said that the Asian market still maintains healthy steel demand and has not been affected by the Sino-US trade war.

Last month, the United States imposed tariffs on Chinese products worth 200 billion U.S. dollars. China also imposed retaliatory tariffs on US goods worth 60 billion U.S. dollars.

Earlier, China and the United States had already imposed import tariffs on each other's goods worth $50 billion.