Japan Flat Steel Import to Drop in January-March

Japanese flat steel import is expected to decrease sharply in January-March. The industry expects the import would decrease by 40-50% to 200,000-250,000 tonnes for hot rolled coil including pickling steel from same period of 2008. The import could decrease by around 40% to 150,000 tonnes for cold rolled coil, by around 26% to 65,000 tonnes for galvanizing steel including electro-galvanizing steel and by 17-18% to 27,000 tonnes for plate. The import could be low level in April-June as January-March when the distributors and users try to reduce the overstock.

The import was almost normal level in October-December at 382,000 tonnes for hot coil, 241,000 tonnes for cold coil, 84,500 tones for galvanizing steel and 48,700 tonnes for plate. The distributors and users tried to secure import materials as of July and August before the recession.

However, the buyers reduced the import when the inventory increased sharply due to dropping demand since late 2008. The import decreased to record low of 62,000 tonnes for hot coil in January. The import decreased to 46,200 tonnes for cold coil, 21,600 tonnes for galvanizing steel and to 8,800 tonnes for plate. The import could keep the low level in February and March. A coil center source said the buyers could have to reduce the inventory through the summer and the import could be the low level.