Japan H-beam Export Increases by 70% in 2010

Japanese H-beam export increased by 69.7% to 435,015 tonnes in 2010 from 2009, according to Ministry of Finance. The averaged export price decreased by only 0.5% to FOB 58,900 yen per tonne. Japanese steel makers including integrated steels tried to increase the export. The makers keep trying to increase export in 2011 for infrastructure projects in Singapore and other East Asian countries.

The export to South Korea increased by 30.3% to 192,736 tonnes in 2010 from 2009. The export increased to 2.8 times at 69,717 tonnes to Singapore. The export from Sakai Branch Customs represented 36.6% of total export to South Korea.

Japanese H-beam import increased by 9.7% to 66,075 tonnes in 2010 from 2009. The averaged import price increased by 16.4% to CIF 63,600 yen per tonne. Despite yen appreciation, the import increase was marginal under slow domestic construction demand. The import from China increased to 2.1 times at 30,174 tonnes while the import from South Korea decreased by 10.8% to 34,775 tonnes.