Japan Stainless Flat Steel Import Rises by 10.7% in January

Japanese stainless flat steel import increased by 10.7% to 8,772 tonnes in January from December, according to Japan Stainless Steel Association. The volume was still low level at under 10,000 tonnes and 65.6% lower than a year earlier. The volume was the lowest level as January in 5 years. The hot rolled stainless flat steel import increased by 19.8% to 4,624 tonnes in January from December. The cold rolled flat steel import increased by 2.1% to 4,147 tonnes, which has kept less than 5,000 tonnes level for 3 months due to slow domestic demand. The largest supplier was South Korea with 7,655 tonnes of stainless flat steel supply in January. The supply was 393 tonnes from Taiwan and 107 tonnes from China.