Japanese Copper Scrap Import High, Export Low in February

Japanese import of primary aluminium ingot kept the high level at above 140,000 tonnes for 3 months in a row. According to the trade statistics by Ministry of Finance, the import was 146,194 tonnes in February, plus by 62% from a year earlier. Demand for rolled aluminium products has recovered from domestic automobile industry. On the other hand, the import of aluminium alloy ingot hit the lowest since August 2009 due to the market price upsurge. The import was 64,369 tonnes despite of 70% of year-to-year plus.

Cathode copper import was 1,815 tonnes in February, minus by 30% from a year earlier. The volume represented even lower than 2,070 tonnes in March 2009, the bottom after Lehman Shock. On the contrary, copper scrap import expanded by 2.2 times to 4,587 tonnes in February from a year earlier. Domestic copper alloy fabricators increased copper scrap import when scrap generation maintained low in Japan.

As to Japanese nonferrous metals export, cathode copper decreased by 21.8% to 49,991 tonnes in February from a year earlier, which decreased by 28.1% to 34,772 tonnes for China. Copper scrap export decreased by 39.5% to 15,212 tonnes due to the demurrage problem at Chinese quays and the rebound of offshore traders’ speculative buying in January.

Aluminium scrap export decreased by 42.5% to 8,319 tonnes. The export dropped by 51.8% to 4,708 tonnes for China due to the high market price in Japan. However, the export for South Korea increased by 80.6% to 1,897 tonnes. Japanese scrap trader said the export of used beverage cans largely increased for South Korea as a material of deoxidizing agents.