Japanese Ferrous Scrap Export Hits Record 9.4MT in 2009

Japanese ferrous scrap export hit record 9.408 million tonnes in 2009, increasing by 73% from 2008. Domestic demand for ferrous scrap decreased due to steel makers’ output reductions and Japanese ferrous scrap market price became lower than other countries’ price. Active ferrous scrap export pulled up domestic market price.

The largest importer was China in 2009. Japanese ferrous scrap export expanded by 60% to 3.777 million tonnes to South Korea in 2009 from 2008, by 87.5% to 4.989 million tonnes by 87.5% to China and by 57.6% to 342,000 tonnes to Taiwan, according to Ministry of Finance.

The export volume to China hit the record high. The volume exceeded the previous record of 3.461 million tonnes in 2005. the main factor was that Japanese ferrous scrap price was lower than other countries’ prices. Chinese importers reduced the import of Japanese ferrous scrap when Japanese ferrous scrap price was relatively high at around 30,000 yen per tonne in late August.

The export to South Korea hit the record high, too. Several steel makers in the country started new plants and the demand for ferrous scrap increased. The export volume to Taiwan was lower than the recent peak of 1.185 million tonnes in 2006.

Japanese ferrous scrap export had increased for 3 years in a row since 2004 and reached 7.654 million tonnes in 2006. The export decreased in 2007 and 2008 when domestic demand increased.