Japan Steel Import Increases by 1.8% in May

Japanese carbon steel import increased by 1.8% to 322,219 tonnes in May from April, which increased for 3 months in a row, announced by Japan Iron and Steel Federation on Tuesday. The dealers seemed to increase the purchase of low-priced imported construction steels from China while Japanese integrated steel makers increased the selling price in April. Chinese government announced elimination of export tax refunds for some steel items including hot rolled coil and plate effective on July 15. However, the refund continues for cold rolled wide strip and surface coated steel. The import of these items could increase more after July 15.

The H-beam import increased by 39.5% to 11,289 tonnes in May from April. The import increased by 22.5% to 34,968 tonnes for wire rod import, by 4.3% to 18,766 tonnes for plate, by 10.0% to 34,295 tonnes for galvanized steel and by 4.5% to 9,323 tonnes for pipes. The import decreased by 1.5% to 144,018 tonnes the hot rolled sheets and by 8.0% to 57,905 tonnes for cold rolled sheets.

The import from South Korea increased by 0.8% to 192,960 tonnes in May from April. The import from China increased by 34.6% to 72,505 tonnes while the import from Taiwan decreased by 14.1% to 54,534 tonnes.