Japan Indium Import Hits Record in April

Japanese indium import increased by 35% to 58 tonnes in April from a year earlier, according to Ministry of Finance. The volume is apparently monthly record topping 57 tonnes in April 2004. Rare metal trader around Tokyo apparently increased the import. The averaged import unit price increased by 5.4% to 52,351 yen per kilogram under higher international market price.

Japan is world largest indium consuming country. Indium tin oxide target application for transparent electrode of liquid crystal panel represents 80-90% of the domestic demand. However, the largest ITO maker of JX Nippon Mining & Metals reduces the production due to the major earthquake damage on the Isohara plant in Ibaraki. The lower production apparently reduced long term based indium import from Korea Zinc when the import decreased by 20% at Yokohama customs in April from a year earlier.

A source in Japanese rare metal trader said Japanese indium import surged in April when an indium focused rare metal trader in Tokyo would have increased the import from China. The import from China was 27 tonnes or near half of the total import.

The averaged import unit price was 54,551 yen per kg from China in April, which was near 10,000 yen higher than averaged 45,990 yen at Yokohama customs. A trader estimates poor users had purchased overvalued metal through trading firm.

Japanese import unit value kept increasing for rare earth, tungsten and antimony, of which China represents 80-90% of the world supply. The import price increased to 2.8 times at 6,437 yen per kg for rare earth in April from a year earlier due to aggressive higher offer by Chinese exporters. The import was 459 tonnes in April but some buyers skipped the import due to the extremely high price.

Japanese tungstate import unit value increased by 54% to 2,693 yen per kg in April from a year earlier when ammonium paratungstate market price hit record. The antimony import unit value doubled to 1,319 yen.