According to the latest customs data, Japan flat steel imports which includes 7208 (HR coils /Plates), 7209 (CR coils), 7225 (Electrical sheets), 7210/7212(GP/GC) registered the growth of 6% on monthly basis in Feb’18 as compared to previous month.
Nation’s flat steel imports stood at 0.35 MnT in Feb’18 against 0.33 MnT in Jan’18.
Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) shows that the consumption of ordinary steel by the Japanese domestic automotive industry increased by 2.5% to 9.11 MnT in 2017, from 8.89 MnT in 2014.
Meanwhile NSSMC (Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp) in its recent interview said that,”Domestic Japanese market would continue to boom for the next three years on tight market fundamentals and healthy demand from downstream segments, as well as demands arising from the staging of the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020”
Thus boost in domestic consumption lead to further rise in nation’s flat steel import volumes.
However on yearly basis nation’s flat steel imports went down by whopping 67% in Feb’18 to against 0.21 MnT in Feb’17.
During first two months of CY17 (Jan-Feb) nation’s flat steel imports stood at 0.68 MnT decline by 9% against 0.75 MnT in corresponding time frame of previous year.
Grade-Wise Japan Flat Steel Imports in Feb’18
| Sub Commodity | Feb’18 | Jan’18 | M-o-M (Change in %) |
Feb’17 | Y-o-Y ( Change in %) |
| HRC/Plate | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.00 | 0.21 | -14.29 |
| Galvanized Steel | 0.08 | 0.08 | 0.00 | 0.07 | 14.29 |
| CRC | 0.07 | 0.06 | 16.67 | 0.06 | 16.67 |
| Electrical Steel | 0.02 | 0.01 | 100.00 | 0.01 | 100.00 |
| Others | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Grand Total | 0.35 | 0.33 | 6% | 0.21 | -67% |
Quantity in MnT
Source-SteelMint Research
Country-Wise Japan Flat Steel imports Japan in Feb’18– In Feb’18,South Korea exported 0.26 MnT of flat steel higher by 13% M-o-M basis against 0.23 MnT in Jan’18.
Besides this,second largest exporter was Taiwan which stood at 0.07 MnT down by 22% against 0.09 MnT in preceding month.
Meanwhile China exported at 0.02 MnT since last two months of CY18.
Leave a Reply