Japan Import Wire Rod Price Stays at Bottom

Japanese imported common steel wire rod price stays at the bottom. The import price is lower than domestic integrated steel makers’ and electric furnaces’ products. The import price isn’t expected to decrease largely when market price of steel products is likely to rise in domestic and overseas market.

Imported wire rod totaled 12,200 tonnes from China in June, 11,900 tonnes from South Korea, 104 tonnes from Taiwan and 179 tonnes from England. Averaged import price was CIF 45,800 yen per tonne from China and CIF 60,100 yen from South Korea.

The import price exceeded 40,000 yen from China in January and kept around 50,000 yen since February. The price hit the yearly bottom in June. The import price from South Korea sustained a certain level until last year while lowered this year. Averaged import price kept around 60,000 yen for April-June, higher than Chinese products by 15,000-20,000 yen.

Imported wire rod decreased by 7.1% to 117,900 tonnes for January-June, which maintained around 20,000 tonnes per month since January. The import from South Korea is increasing since April, which kept higher than Chinese products for April-June. Domestic demand for wire rod is low due to inventory increase and anticipation of a fall in the market price. The demand is especially low from building material and civil engineering, the main source of which is imported wire rod.

Wire rod price is likely to hit bottom when domestic and overseas steel market price is rising. However, the users may import wire rod more and overseas wire rod makers increase the supply if the demand recovers.