Japan Flat Steel Import Decreases in November

Japanese import of hot, cold and coated sheet steel decreased by 19,056 tonnes or 7.2% to 244,859 tonnes in November from October. The import decreased by 12.1% in January-November, by 5.9% to 1.4301million tonnes for hot rolled flat steel, by 24.5% to 817,504 tonnes for cold rolled steel and by 0.1% to 328,118 tonnes for galvanizing steel in January-November. The import keeps downward trend. The hot rolled sheet import decreased by 5.5% to 137,813 tonnes in November from October. The cold sheet import decreased by 6.6% to 79,486 tonnes and the galvanizing steel import decreased by 16.2% to 27.560 tonnes. The import of hot, cold and coated sheet decreased by 15.3% to 146,199 tonnes from South Korea in November from October. The import from China decreased by 8.3% to 18,532 tonnes while the import from Taiwan increased by 24.6% to 76,697 tonnes. Japanese steel plate import decreased by 16.6% to 21,390 tonnes, which was over 20,000 tonnes for 2 consecutive months. The import decreased by 37.8% to 198,214 tonnes in January-November. The import was 2,677 tonnes from South Korea in November, 12,182 tonnes from China, 3,435 tonnes from Taiwan and 3,078 tonnes from Russia.