Japan Carbon Steel Export Drops by 9.0% in F2011

Japanese carbon steel export decreased by 9.0% to 2.654 million tonnes in fiscal 2011 ended March 2012 from fiscal 2010, announced by Japan Iron and Steel Federation on Wednesday. The export decreased for all major destinations due to higher yen rate, low steel price and Thai flood. The export to South Korea decreased by 19.3% for South Korea.

The total export decreased by 8.3% to 39.992 million tonnes including pig iron and ferroalloy in fiscal 2011 from fiscal 2010. The export decreased for the first tine in 3 years but the export volume was second high. The export value increased by 4.0% to record US$ 49.143 billion while the yen value decreased by 4.3% to 3.883 trillion yen.

The export of carbon steel hot rolled wide strip decreased by 5.7% to 8.866 million tonnes in fiscal 2011 from fiscal 2010. The export decreased by 15.4% to 4.72 million tonnes for galvanizing steel, by 5.3% to 3.538 million tonnes for plate and by 14.1% to 3.471 million tonnes for cold rolled wide strip.

The total export decreased by 20.3% to 8.413 million tonnes for South Korea in fiscal 2011 from fiscal 2010, which decreased for 2 years in a row. The export decreased by 14.8% to 6.463 million tonnes for China, by 7.8% to 3.335 million tonnes for Taiwan and by 5.3% to 4.56 million tonnes for Thailand while the export to USA increased by 26.1% to 2.149 million tonnes.

The carbon steel export decreased by 3.6% to 2.595 million tonnes in March from a year earlier, which decreased for 7 months in a row. The export was 21.5% higher than February level.