Japan Steel Import Paces Down in January

Japanese carbon steel import decreased by 2.5% to 394,696 tonnes in January from December, according to Ministry of Finance. The import decreased for 3 months in a row and represented below 400,000 tonnes for the first time since September 2011 due to inventory adjustment. On the other hand, electrical steel sheet import hit the monthly record volume. Import of steel plate and galvanized steel sheet also kept the high volume. Domestic steel users seem to have continued procurement of offshore steels under extremely strong yen trend. Japanese integrated steel makers are still concerned on high volume imports when yen rate stays at around 80 yen per US dollar.

By items, H-beam decreased by 4.8% to 8,450 tonnes, steel bar decreased by 25.6% to 2,650 tonnes, hot rolled steel sheet decreased by 15.4% to 124,391 tonnes and cold rolled steel sheet decreased by 4.5% to 78,092 tonnes. Meanwhile, sheet pile almost doubled to 6,093 tonnes, steel plate increased by 3.4% to 51,171 tonnes, electrical steel sheet jumped by 2.5 times to 6,076 tonnes. Galvanizing steel sheet kept flat at 60,450 tonnes.

By countries, the import decreased by 10.6% to 260,249 tonnes from South Korea while increased by 16.5% to 78,899 tonnes from Taiwan and increased by 23.9% to 49,269 tonnes from China.