According to the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF), Japan's crude steel production totaled around 7.1 million tons in June, increasing by 1% compared to the previous month and falling by 4% from the year-ago level.

Meanwhile, the output of pig iron hiked by 2% month on month and dropped by 6.3% year on year to 5 million tons.

In the first seven months of this year, Japan produced a total of around 50 million tons of crude steel, a year-on-year decline of 3%. Pig iron output dropped by 4% year on year to 35.8 million tons.