Japan Nonferrous Metal Import Shrinks, Export Settles Down in May

Japanese nonferrous metal import totally represented year-to-year minus in May, according to the trade statistics by Ministry of Finance. Cathode copper import decreased by 71% to 3,295 tonnes. Anode copper import decreased by 37% to 1,285 tonnes. Copper scrap import also decreased by 72% to 1,867 tonnes. Order receipts partially improved at Japanese copper fabricators such as foil makers and copper alloy product makers. However, they had suspended material procurement by April and, that is, the import didn’t increase.

Primary aluminium import decreased by 56% to 71,272 tonnes, which kept below 100,000 tonnes for 4 straight months. Aluminium alloy import decreased by 78% to 20,535 tonnes, which represented year-to-year minus for 7 straight months. Aluminium alloy demand slightly recovered from automobiles but Chinese ingot price was higher than Japanese domestic price.

As to Japanese nonferrous metal export, cathode copper expanded by 2.7 times to 57,162 tonnes in May from a year earlier, which showed year-to-year plus for 8 months in a row. The export for China jumped by 2.9 times to 35,067 tonnes. On the other hand, copper scrap decreased by 12.6% to 32,451 tonnes. The export for China was 28,196 tonnes, lower by 15.8% year-to-year and by 37% (16,580 tonnes) from the record in April.

Aluminium scrap export was 12,741 tonnes, higher by 60% year-to-year while lower by about 50% month-to-month. The export for China halved from record 8,184 tonnes in April. Japanese secondary aluminium alloy makers restarted scrap procurement and the market price surged.