Japan-serious cuts

摘要

In Japan integrated producers are at last making significant real reductions in production. Their cuts may no longer be too little, but they are extremely late. Crude steel output in November, 8.125m tonnes, was 10.5 percent - close to 920,000 tones-below the November 2000 total. This big reduction was achieved by both integrated (BF-BOF) steelmakers and minimills cutting output by over 10 percent, in contrast to earlier months when the effect of cuts at one woks were negated by increases at other.