JAPAN DATA: Crude steel production in July totaled 9.108 million
tons, down 1.2% on year, posting the fifth straight monthly y/y fall,
data released by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation showed. But the
pace of decline slowed from -5.0% in June, -7.0% in May and -6.3% in
April. Economists often use the data in forecasting industrial output,
whose July figures are due out on Aug. 31. Steel production accounts for
around 6% of Japan’s overall manufacturing and mining production. The
federation has projected crude steel output will total 108 million tons
in fiscal 2011, down from 110.8 tons in the previous year.