By www.reuters.com , 2011-05-27 12:00:00
Japan's crude steel output will drop to just below 110 million tonnes this financial year from 110.8 million tonnes last year, as a robust recovery in the auto sector after October will help to offset a post-quake plunge in output, a steel industry body said.
The pace of recovery in auto production, a key steel user, has picked up since mid-May beyond expectations as parts makers come back online, Eiji Hayashida, chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation, said on Friday.
"We expect domestic car output to recover to at least 90 percent of the year-ago level, or 8 million units this year, even with power cuts. This is a bright sign," he told a news conference.
Hayashida said he expected Japan's crude steel output to stay below 26.9 million tonnes this quarter but rise to 27 million tonnes in the July-September quarter.
Japan aims to cut electricity use by 15 percent in regions affected by the March 11 earthquake from July 1 to avoid power blackouts during the peak summer demand period.
The disaster dealt a particularly severe blow to automakers, disrupting supply chains as it damaged makers of car electronics and other key components, while triggering a nuclear plant crisis that has crimped power supplies in much of eastern Japan.
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