Japan Steel Export Hits Record in F2009

Japanese steel export increased by 14.3% to record 38.667 million tonnes in fiscal 2009 ended March 2010 from fiscal 2008, announced by Ministry of Finance on Thursday. Strong offshore demand lifted the export volume topping former record of 38.45 million tonnes in fiscal 2007. The export increased especially for Asian countries, which represented 85% of the total export. The export market would increase the weight for Japanese steel industry under slow domestic demand in fiscal 2010.

The export reached record level of 11.04 million tonnes in January-March after the recover from the bottom in April-June 2009. The export to the largest destination of China increased by 17% to 7 million tonnes, which represented 18% of total export. The export to Asian Newly Industrializing Economies (NIES) increased by 23% and represented largest area for Japanese steel export.

The export value decreased by 28% to 3.033 trillion yen in fiscal 2009 from record in fiscal 2008 when the export unit price decreased by around 40% to 78,400 yen per tonne. The export value could increase in fiscal 2010 from fiscal 2009 when the export unit price increases in and after April.

Japanese steel import halved from China in fiscal 2009 from fiscal 2008 and the import from Asian countries decreased by 30%. The import value decreased by 55% due to lower unit price. The import was slow due to low level domestic demand.

The steel export in March increased by 18.7% to 4.177 million tonnes from a year earlier, which represented increases for 8 months in a row. The export was 23.2% higher than February. The export value was 326.7 billion yen, which was 18.7% higher than a year earlier and 24.2% higher than February. The import was 493,800 tonnes, which was 73.6% up from a year earlier and 6.5% higher than February while the import value was 53.1 billion yen, which was 29.5% higher than a year earlier and 22.7% higher than February.