Japan's Crude Steel Output up 1.7 Pct in July

Japan's crude steel production rose 1.7 percent year-on-year to 10,189,000 tons in July, said the Japan Iron and Steel Federation Wednesday.

The industry body attributed the increase, which has continued for 26 months in a row, to buoyant demand both at home and abroad.

Statistics showed that the output of common steel for general purposes expanded 0.6 percent to 7,928,000 tons while that of specialty steel for products such as automobiles grew 5.7 percent to 2,261,000 tons.