According to statistics from the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF), Japan’s domestic sales volume of finished carbon steel totaled around 3.2 million tons in October this year, sliding by 1.3% compared to the previous month, which was a decrease for the second consecutive month. The figure was down by 5.3% year on year.

The drop was mainly due to lower consumption from the automobile industry caused by the short supply of automotive components since August.

In terms of exports, the volume hiked by 19% month on month and by 21.2% year on year.