Japanese stainless steel production from domestic major 7 mills was 455,655 tons in April, decreased by 2.8 percent from last month.

Nippon’s Hikari steel mill and Yawata steel mill raised their stainless steel output to 123,077 tons. Naoetsu steel mill of Sumitomo Metal Mining stopped producing stainless steel since December 2007.

Wakayama steel mill of Sumikin produced 20,107 tons of crude stainless steel, and Kinuura steel mill recovered its production to 33,214 tons.

Besides, the production of JFE’s Chiba steel mill and Shunan steel mill were both dropped by over 10 percent from March, at 73,871 tons and 50,845 tons respectively.