Macro Snapshot — Japan crude steel output falls 8.5% as car production falls; Eurozone business activity contracts

CAIRO: Japan’s crude steel output fell 8.5 percent in July from a year earlier, sliding for a seventh consecutive month as demand remained weak due to a slow recovery in automobile production, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said on Tuesday.

Output, which is not seasonally adjusted, dropped to 7.33 million tons in the world’s third biggest steel producer, and slipped 1.6 percent from June.

“Repeated delays in recovery by automakers’ production amid a shortage of chips and other parts caused sluggish demand for steel products,” an analyst at the federation said.