China Wire Rod Export Price to Japan Continues Increase

Chinese steel wire rod export price to Japan continues increasing. Chinese carbon wire rod makers’ export offer price to Japan is C&F US$ 745-750 per tonne, which is US$ 20-30 higher than the level in early January, according to Japanese importer source. The price would increase more after Chinese New Year holiday, the importer sees. The higher Chinese export price is positive for Japanese wire rod makers and steel wire products makers, which try to increase the selling price to improve the profitability.

Japanese wire rod users resist the higher Chinese wire rod price when the price usually decreases in January-February, according to the importer. However, the Japanese users could increase the purchase due to price gap between Chinese and Japanese wire rod while Japanese wire rod price is expected to increase due to higher raw material cost. Japanese industry source sees the Japanese users could increase the import for March-April arrival expecting higher Japanese wire rod price.

Japanese electric furnace steel maker, Godo Steel announced the firm increases wire rod and bar-in-coil price by 10,000 yen per tonne for March shipment. The firm increases low grade wire rod price, which remains low to match Chinese wire rod price, for February shipment. Other electric furnaces and integrated steel makers are also expected to increase the price due to higher raw material cost.

Japanese carbon wire rod import decreased by 12.0% to 14,030 tonnes in November from October when the wire rod output in Japan increased by 13.9% to 49,000 tonnes.