South Korea Lifts Japan Ferrous Scrap Export

Japanese ferrous scrap export increased to 720,000 tonnes in April hitting second high monthly export. The export increased for South Korea when South Korean steel makers shift from USA scrap to Japanese scrap through higher spot import from Japan in 2006. Japanese scrap export could keep the high level in 2006 after record high in 2005 when South Korean and other Asian steel makers increase scrap purchase from Japan. Japanese can export at around 5,000 tonnes per vessel compared with 40,000-50,000 tonnes of USA scrap, which was main source for South Korea. Japanese lead time for shipping is shorter at around a month than 2-3 months for USA scrap. South Korean steel makers take the advantage by increasing Japanese scrap purchase. Japanese ferrous scrap export hit record 7.505 million tonnes in fiscal 2005 ended March 2006. The export to South Korea also hit record at 3.028 million tonnes, which represented 40% of total export. South Korean scrap import from Japan increased by 33.5% to 618,066 tonnes in January-March from same period of 2005.