Japan's March crude steel output falls 4.3 per cent

TOKYO, Apr 24 (Reuters): Japan's crude steel output in March fell 4.3 per cent from a year earlier, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said on Thursday, citing continued slow automobile production because of microchip and parts shortages.
Output in Japan, the world's third-largest steel producer, came in at 7.96 million tonnes for March. It was the third drop in as many months but the figure, which is not seasonally adjusted, was up 8.9 per cent from February.
"The shortage of semiconductor and other parts continued to weigh on automobile production, reducing steel demand," said a researcher at the federation, adding that output was also curbed by the shutdown of a blast furnace for repair.
Nippon Steel Corp, Japan's biggest steelmaker, shut down one of its blast furnaces in Nagoya for relining in late January, expecting operations to resume in June.