Giant Japan steel mill signals pandemic recovery taking root

A surge in automotive demand is making it attractive for Nippon Steel Corp. to restart facilities it shut earlier this year even as the world's third-biggest steelmaker cautioned that longer-term domestic demand remains anemic and its plan to cut output by shutting aging mills will remain on track, MetalJunction reported.
In the last two weeks, Nippon has announced plans to reopen at least three more blast furnaces as demand for steel recovers. It will examine restarting more furnaces as the current capacity is still tight, Katsuhiro Miyamoto, executive vice president of the Tokyo-based company, said Thursday in an interview.
The auto industry's recovery, combined with resurgent steel prices in Asia backed by the strength of China's economy, has come as a relief for steelmakers in Japan after the pandemic squeezed already shrinking local demand. Worldwide crude steel output next year will probably return to levels seen before the pandemic, supported by China and a pickup in many other countries, Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co. said last month.
Meanwhile, China's iron ore imports fell for the second straight month in November, dropping 8.1 per cent from a month earlier on easing shipments from major exporters, official customs data showed on Monday.
China brought in 98.15 million tonnes of the key steelmaking ingredient last month, compared with 106.74 million tonnes of imports in October, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs. That was up 8.3 per cent from November 2019.
"Shipments from Australia and Brazil were at relatively low levels in the last two months," said Richard Lu, senior analyst with CRU in Beijing, adding that December shipments are normally higher though there is a need to monitor weather conditions.
Lu also noted that decent profits for steel products have supported steel mills' demand for iron ore.