Narrow Price Gap, Low Yen Rate Reduces Japan H-Beam Import

Japanese H-beam import transactions get slower than before due to lower domestic market price and lower yen rate. The importers and suppliers are now reluctant to settle the contract when yen rate decreases around 10% from the beginning of the year and the domestic market price dropped to around 78,000 yen per tonne against CIF US$ 530 per tonne of import price.

South Korean makers are also reluctant to export to Japan when South Korean demand improves since March. The higher won rate also reduces the profitability for export to Japan. A distributor, who imports H-beam regularly, said the firm reduces import due to lower domestic demand and lower profitability when price gap with domestic material narrows.

Japanese H-beam import was 8,357 tonnes in February, which was around 2.5 times of a year earlier level and higher than export volume. Some general contractors try to import to take advantage of the lower priced material. However, Japanese market is still cautious for imports due to unreliable quality, which is the largest reason for very small portion for imported steel in Japanese market.