Japan Steel Sheet Import Decreases in July

Japanese steel sheet import decreased by 10.9% to 211,686 tonnes in July from June for hot-rolled, cold-rolled and galvanized products when Asian steel makers seemed to adjust their export to Japan. Each of 3 products import severely decreased. Trader source indicated the decrease is not serious because Asian market price keeps the level, while it is concerned that the galvanized steel sheet import increased by 0.2% in January-July over the same period of 2005.The import decreased by 7.9% to 122,569 tonnes for hot-rolled steel sheet in July from June, by 17.1% to 61,673 tonnes for cold-rolled steel sheet and by 9% to 27,444 tonnes for zinc coated steel sheet. The import decreased by 10.5% to 127,450 tonnes from South Korea, by 24.2% to 15,186 tonnes from China and by 1.6% to 67,493 tonnes from Taiwan.