Japan Carbon Steel Import Drops by 21.5% in February

Japanese carbon steel import decreased by 21.5% to 233,000 tonnes in February from January, announced by Japan Iron and Steel Federation on Tuesday. The users and dealers reduced the procurement of sheet and other steel items due to the stagnation in Japanese market. On the other hand, the users and dealers could increase the cheaper import when Japanese integrated steel makers increase the price by around 15,000 yen per tonne from April shipment.

Japanese hot rolled sheets import decreased by 15.1% to 98,755 tonnes in February from January. The cold rolled sheets import decreased by 11.5% to 59,013 tonnes and the galvanized steel import decreased by 4.6% to 30,578 tonnes. The H-beam import decreased by 30.2% to 2,395 tonnes and the wire rod import decreased by 62.4% to 9,655 tonnes. The plate import decreased by 59.0% to 12,695 tonnes.

The import from South Korea decreased by 21.5% to 135,592 tonnes in February from January. The import from China decreased by 46.4% to 29,591 tonnes and the import from Taiwan increased by 22.4% to 63,498 tonnes.