Japan Carbon Steel Export Drops by 11.1% in F2008

Japanese carbon steel export decreased by 11.1% to 23.435 million tonnes in fiscal 2008 ended March 2009 from fiscal 2007, which was the first decrease in 3 years, announced by Japan Iron and Steel Federation on Thursday. The export decreased by 13.1% to 4.371 million tonnes for special steel products.

The total steel export decreased by 11.2% to 34.153 million tonnes including pig iron and ferroalloy in fiscal 2008 from fiscal 2007, which was the first drop in 3 years. The export value increased by 13.8% to record US$ 43.963 billion and by 0.9% to record 4.462 trillion yen due to higher unit price.

The total steel export decreased by 16.1% to 8.512 million tonnes to South Korea in fiscal 2008 from fiscal 2007, which was the first drop in 3 years. The export decreased by 6.0% to 6.131 million tonnes to China, by 10.4% to 3.939 million tonnes to Thailand, by 11.9% to 3.271 million tonnes to Taiwan and by 5.9% to 1.522 million tonnes to USA.

The carbon steel export increased by 38.3% to 1.694 million tonnes in March from February, which was the first increase in 6 months. The export was, however, 36.8% lower than a year earlier, which was decreases for 6 months in a row. The special steel export decreased by 39.6% to 353,000 tonnes from a year earlier while the volume was 30.6% higher than February level.