Japan Carbon Steel Import Remains High in November

Japanese carbon steel import decreased by 7.5% to 442,797 tonnes in November from October, according to Ministry of Finance. The import decreased for the first time in 2 months. The import kept more than 400,000 tonnes when the import from South Korea hit more than 300,000 tonnes for 2 months in a row. Japanese dealers and users increased the import of South Korean steel mainly from POSCO under high yen rate against Korean won.

The steel import increased by 21.3% to 4.077 million tonnes in January-November from same period of 2010. The import would reach around 4.5 million tonnes for 2011.

The import decreased by 7.6% to 169,510 tonnes for hot rolled flat steel in November from October. The import decreased by 4.0% to 89,595 tonnes for cold rolled flat steel while the import increased by 0.4% to 66,280 tonnes for galvanized steel. The import decreased by 10.5% to 58,595 tonnes for plate and by 14.9% to 24,074 tonnes for wire rod. The import decreased by 36.5% to 3,143 tonnes for electrical steel and by 16.3% to 3,033 tonnes for bar.

The import decreased by 2.5% to 321,334 tonnes from South Korea in November from October. The import increased by 3.8% to 75,695 tonnes from Taiwan while the import decreased by 46.8% to 37,787 tonnes from China.