Japan Steel Export Keeps Record High Pace, Even Slow Down in April

Japanese steel export decreased by 17.6% to 3.469 million tonnes in April from March, announced by Ministry of Finance on Thursday. The export increased by 67.9% to 14.54 million tonnes in January-April from same period of 2009 and the annualized 44 million tonnes was 14% higher than record in 2008. The export is likely to keep high level when an integrated steel official said the steel maker will increase the export rate for the total sales.

The averaged steel export price increased by 9.8% to 85,864 yen per tonne in April from March when the makers aggressively increased the price to cover higher raw materials cost. The export volume increased slightly for China in April from March while the export decreased by around 20% for Asian Newly Industrializing Economies and Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The import volume increased by 36% in April from March due to higher import from China and Russia. The averaged import price decreased by 10.4% to 96,304 yen per tonne.

Nippon Steel’s vice president Kohzoh Uchida said world steel demand will keep increasing in Asia and emerging countries while Japanese demand doesn’t increase at high pace. He said the export rate is already around 40% in value and near 50% in tonnage. He said the firm tries to secure reasonable margin under high level raw materials cost while the firm tries to follow the growing offshore demand by building offshore supply network including offshore production bases.