Japan Steel Import Declines by 16.0% in November

Japanese carbon steel import decreased by 5.7% to 279,438 tonnes in November from a year earlier or decreased by 16.0% from October, announced by Japan Iron & Steel Federation on December 26. While the import of plate and wire rod increased, the sheet import decreased when the buyers with overstock reduced the purchase volume. The carbon steel import decreased by 2.0% to 3.427 million tonnes in January-November compared with same period of 2007.

Japanese import of H-beam declined by 97.2% to 116 tonnes in November from a year earlier while the hot rolled sheet import decreased by 7.2% to 125,609 tonnes and the cold rolled sheet import decreased by 3.3% to 75,372 tonnes.

The import of plate increased to 2.2 times at 16,279 tonnes in November from a year earlier while the wire rod import increased by 2.6% to 22,226 tonnes.

The total steel import from South Korea decreased by 13.4% to 152,202 tonnes in November from a year earlier while the import from Taiwan also decreased by 22.0% to 52,813 tonnes.

The import of special steel decreased by 31.4% to 12,978 tonnes in November from a year earlier while the processed steel import decreased by 10.5% to 49,218 tonnes.