Japan Stainless Import Rises by 58.5% in January-June

Japanese stainless steel import including flat steel, long products and pipe increased by 58.5% to 79,502 tonnes in January-June from same period of 2009, according to Japan Stainless Steel Association. The monthly import was more than 10,000 tonnes since March due to recovering domestic demand while the import decreased to less than 10,000 tonnes in February after 10,000 tonnes mark in January. The import recovered from low level in 2009 when the monthly import hit 10,000 tonnes only in January while the import was as low as less than 7,000 tonnes in February and March.

The stainless flat steel import increased by 67.3% to 65,422 tonnes in January-June from same period of 2009. The stainless import increased by 21.2% to 4,772 tonnes for bar, to 2.1 times at 525 tonnes for shapes, by 27.2% to 5,185 tonnes for wire rod, by 16.9% to 1,040 tonnes for seamless pipe and by 34.2% to 2,560 tonnes for welded pipe. The import increased for all items.

The stainless import increased by 43.0% to 17,569 tonnes in June from a year earlier. The import increased by 46.7% to 14,990 tonnes for flat steel, of which the hot rolled flat steel import increased by 31.1% to 7,176 tonnes and the cold rolled flat steel import increased by 64.6% to 7,815 tonnes. The stainless bar import increased by 40.9% to 1,079 tonnes.

The import apparently increased in June when stainless market price gap widened between domestic market and offshore market temporarily under lower nickel ingot price.