Downturn in Japanese Plate Export Growth

Japanese plate steel export for 2009 could decrease from 2008 and show the first year-to-year decline since 1999. Japanese growth in export slows due to the global economy recession and the competition heats up in overseas plate market when the shipbuilders in South Korea and China, which is the main consumer of Japanese exported plate, increase the procurement from local makers. In addition, overseas makers plan to expand the plate output capacity more.

Japanese plate export increased for 9 years in a row since 2000 while export for 2008 increased by 6.3% to 3.449 million tonnes from a year earlier, though the increase rate was 2.7 percentage points lower than 9% in 2007.

The order for shipbuilding slumps in South Korea and China. Major shipbuilders have order backlog for years but a lot of orders for emerging shipbuilders apparently cancelled. Market situation is unforeseeable.

Japanese plate import decreased by 37.5% for July-September 2008 and by 12.7% for October-December from a previous quarter. Imported plate price seems to be 30-40% lower than the domestic. But Japanese users seem not to increase the imported use while the demand decreases for construction and machine.