Japan Carbon Steel Export Increases by 47% Y/Y in June

Japanese carbon steel product export increased by 47.2% to 2.574 million tonnes in June from a year earlier, year-to-year plus for 9 consecutive months, announced Nippon Iron & Steel Federation on Monday. The export increased to South Korea, China and Thailand. However, the export is likely to slow down since Chinese steel market price weakened in May and new export contracts decreased. All steel export increased by 34.4% to 3.864 million tonnes in June from a year earlier, which exceeded 3.376 million tonnes in June 2006 and hit new record as June.

Carbon steel hot strip increased by 54.6% to 866,000 tonnes, year-to-year plus for 12 straight months. Zinc coated steel sheet increased by 2.1 times to 506,000 tonnes, steel plate increased by 24.4% to 328,000 tonnes, cold rolled strip increased by 38.2% to 338,000 tonnes and welded steel tube increased by 56.9% to 70,000 tonnes.

All steel export increased by 25.7% to 977,000 tonnes for South Korea when automobile production kept strong. The export for South Korea represented year-to-year plus for 13 consecutive months. The export for China increased by 11% to 69,000 tonnes, year-to-year plus for 8 straight months. The export for Taiwan increased by 55.1% to 406,000 tonnes while the export for Thailand jumped by 2.6 times to 445,000 tonnes. The export for Thailand showed year-to-year plus for 8 consecutive months.

For January-June 2010, carbon steel export increased by 74.2% to 15.16 million tonnes from the corresponding period of 2009. Hot strip almost doubled to 4.87 million tonnes while zinc coated steel sheet jumped by 2.2 times to 2.802 million tonnes.