Japanese cathode copper export decreased by 28% to 30,918 tonnes in July from a year earlier, according to trade statistics by Ministry of Finance. The export decreased by 32% to 13,471 tonnes for the largest market of China due to limited supply of Japanese cooper smelters with the damage by the major earthquake and lower copper price at Shanghai Future Exchange.
The copper scrap export increased by 15% to 26,000 tonnes in July from a year earlier, which increased for 2 months in a row. The export increased by 13% to 23,204 tonnes for China when Chinese users increased the purchase with expectation for higher price. The aluminium scrap export increased by 66% to 10,613 tonnes in July from a year earlier. The export increased to 8.8 times at 2,669 tonnes for South Korea and increased by 19% to 5,511 tonnes for China. Japanese scrap exporter increased the supply for South Korea and China when Japanese scrap market price was weak due to slow shipment for domestic secondary aluminium makers. The zinc export decreased by 23% to 2,366 tonnes for products with 99.99% or more purity in July from a year earlier. The export for China decreased to 308 tonnes from 1,491 tonnes a year earlier. Refer to an attached table.
