Japan Small Bar and Billet Export Increasing

Japanese small steel bar and billet export is increasing. Electric furnaces are increasing the export to Asian countries such as South Korea when domestic demand for building construction is considerably slow after the revision of Japanese building standard law. Small bar export volume increased by 56.6% to 43,328 tonnes in 2007 from 2006. Unit price of exported small bar surged by more than 10,000 yen per tonne year-on-year.Small bar export for South Korea increased to 28,374 tonnes or 3 times in 2007 from 2006. South Korean demand for building construction keeps strong. South Korean steel makers are increasing orders for Japanese billet. Small bar export decreased by 63.7% to 5,473 tonnes due to the influence of subprime loan issue.Unit price of exported small bar was FOB 52,000 yen per tonne at the beginning of 2007 and soared to over 65,000 yen in January 2008. Recently the price is more increasing. South Korean importers offer higher prices for Japanese products after Chinese small bar export decreased due to governmental restriction. Japanese electric furnace source said the firm received orders from some companies to which the firm has never supplied the products.Japanese billet export is more active. Billet export volume increased by 53.2% to 106,052 tonnes in January 2008 from a year earlier. Billet export price was 45,000-50,000 yen per tonne at the beginning of 2007 while soared to over 60,000 yen last summer and to over 62,000 yen per tonne in January 2008.