Japan: steel exports up 27% in Jun, H1 down 0.9% on year

In June, Japan’s steel exports including semi-finished and finished steel in all grades and forms rose by 27% on year to about 3.06 million tonnes, according to the preliminary data released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance on July 21, though the exports for January-June were still 0.9% short of a year ago, Mysteel Global noted.

Japan’s steel exports, thus, grew on yer for the second month by June after one year of declines, and the volume was also up 11% on month, though the exports value in FOB surged more substantially, up 73% on year and 17.9% higher on month to a total of Yen 332.34 billion ($3.02 billion), according to the data.

Over January-June, Japan exports of all steel products reached 16.9 million tonnes, down 0.9% on year, Mysteel Global calculates from the data.

The on-year surge for June was due to the low base a year ago, as Japan’s steel exports in June 2020 hit the lowest in record at 2.42 million tonnes, as reported, while the jump in value was a reflection of the surging steel prices globally, a Tokyo-based steel trader said.

“On-month rises in both volume and value were probably due to the fact that the Japanese mills had been enlarging their sales abroad as the prices were more attractive,” he added.

Last month, Asia remained the top destination for Japan’s steel exports with about 2.36 million tonnes, up 17.8% on year and 13.1% higher on month, or accounting 77% of the total, the data showed, and among the Asian countries, the ASEAN-6 countries posted the highest gains, while exports to China declined on year.

“China has been the only country with its economic activities to have recovered more than a year ago, and its buying has declined on higher prices tough we feel that China will remain an active buyer if the prices are right,” a sales official from an integrated mill in Tokyo explained.

As for Japan’s steel imports of all types in June, the volume rose 8.6% on year and up 6.3% on month to 563,805 tonnes, among which, 268,085 tonnes were from South Korea, the top seller, which went up 14.7% on year and 8.6% higher on month, while China, sold 78,513 tonnes of all kinds of steel to Japan, up 7.8% on year but down 11.2% on month, according to the preliminary data.Source: Ministry of Finance, preliminary trade data.

“We had expected lower steel imports from China due to its cancellation of the export tax rebates on May 1, but we are not sure whether the volume will reduce on month continuously, as Japanese buyers appear rather aggressive in sourcing steel products from abroad to ease the supply tightness in the domestic market for some products,” a second Tokyo-based steel trader added.

The Japan Iron & Steel Federation will release the country’s detailed steel exports and imports data by product on July 30 as per schedule.

Written by Yoko Manabe, yoko.manabe@mysteel.com