Japan Carbon Steel Import Drops by 17.1% in August

Japanese carbon steel import decreased by 17.1% to 289,000 tonnes in August from a year earlier, which decreased for the first time in 9 months, announced by Japan Iron and Steel Federation on Friday. The import decreased by 13.5% for flat products and by 49.4% for long products. With the higher import through July, the carbon steel import increased by 4.9% to 2.581 million tonnes in January-August from same period of 2006. The import of hot, cold and galvanizing steel sheet decreased by 14.4% to 235,000 tonnes in August from a year earlier. The plate import decreased by 10.9% and other flat products import decreased except for electrical steel and other miner items. The wire rod import decreased by 46.4% and other long items decreased widely. The flat products import increased by 10.6% to 2.255 million tonnes in January-August from same period of 2006. With the higher import in the first half, the import of hot, cold and galvanizing steel increased by 10.9%. The long products import decreased by 27.7%.