Japan Carbon Steel Wire Rod Import Jumps by 91% in 2005

Japanese carbon steel wire rod import increased by 90.7% to 239,796 tonnes in 2005 from 2004, according to Ministry of Finance. The volume was near 20 times of the recent bottom in 2002. The import represented 18.8% of domestic market in 2005 when the domestic output was 980,000 tonnes. The import share was 11.7% in 2004. The import expanded the presence due to the 15,000 yen per tonne lower price than domestic products. The import from China was 218,626 tonnes in 2005 representing more than 90% of the total import. The import was 14,133 tonnes from South Korea, 5,893 tonnes from Russia and 1,034 tonnes from Thailand.