Japanese Plate Import Increased by 9.2% in Fiscal 2009

Japanese plate steel import increased by 9.2% to 3.73 million tonnes in fiscal 2009 ended March 2010 from fiscal 2008 while the import decreased by 20.1% to 170,261 tonnes, according to Ministry of Finance.

Japanese plate import was at the low level in April-June 2009 due to the downturn in the global economy while the demand was firm for shipbuilding in South Korea. However, the export was 300,000-400,000 tonnes per month since July when the demand increased for the infrastructure development in China and other Asian countries and construction machinery order receipt increased in Japan.

On the other hand, Japanese import slowed due to the demand decrease in the construction.

The export increased by 17.8% to 393,450 tonnes in March from a year earlier, which showed year-on-year increase for 9 months in a row. The averaged import price was around 61,000 yen per tonne same as February. The import increased by 84.8% to 11,407 tonnes while the price decreased by around 1,000 yen to around 60,000 yen.