Japan Nonferrous Metal Materials Import Increases by 20% in 2010

Japanese nonferrous metals materials import increased by 20% to 17.739 million tonnes in 2010 from 2009, announced by Ministry of Finance on Monday. The import increased due to firm demand for automobile and home electronics under Japanese governmental stimulus package. The import value increased by 47% to 2.9 trillion yen due to higher base metal and rare metal material cost.

Japanese nonferrous metal ore import increased by 17% to 13.878 million tonnes in 2010 from 2009. The copper ore import increased by 12% to 5.35 million tonnes. The nickel ore import increased by 26% to 4.52 million tonnes.

Japanese rare metals import increased by 77% in 2010 from 2009. The rare earth import increased by 56% to 28,564 tonnes. The rare earth import significantly decreased mainly for automotive motor materials in and after September. However, the import in 2010 increased due to economy recovery in Japan. The rare earth import value increased to 3 times at 66.37 billion yen due to higher price caused by Chinese lower export quota and temporary export stoppage to Japan.