Japan’s crude steel output is expected to fall 1.7% in the first three months of 2026 due to weak demand from the construction and manufacturing sectors, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said.

The forecast would bring the world’s third-largest steel producer’s annual output for the fiscal year ending March 31 to 80.33 million metric tons, down 3.2% from a year earlier. It marks the lowest output since fiscal 1968, when crude output was rising during Japan’s high-growth era.

“Japan’s crude steel production peaked at 121.51 million tons in fiscal 2007, but has since fallen to about two-thirds of that level,” Manabu Nabeshima, director of METI’s metal industries division, told a news conference.

“We don’t make any production forecast for next fiscal year, but output in the January-March quarter is likely to remain largely unchanged from current levels, either flat or slightly lower,” he said.

Demand for steel products, including those for exports, is forecast to fall 1.6% to 18.27 million tons in January-March compared with a year earlier, the ministry said, citing an industry survey.

Exports are forecast to fall 0.5%, the ministry said.
Source: Reuters