Japan Steel Export Statistics: Q3-CY’19

Japan, world’s third-largest crude steel producer witnessed an increased in exports of ferrous scrap, semi finished and finish flat steel, while exports of finish long steel observed decrease on quarterly basis in Q3’19, the customs data maintained with SteelMint showed.

According to the world steel association, Japan’s crude steel output marked a slight decline inQ3 and stood at 24.56 MnT, down 5% Q-o-Q as compared to 26.12 MnT in Q2’19, while on a yearly basis the production moved down by 4% as against 25.65 MnT in Q3’18.

Ferrous Scrap: Japan, largest ferrous scrap exporter, witnessed an increase in ferrous scrap exports in the quarter ending sept’19. As per recent data released by the country’s customs department, the country has increased its scrap export by 15% to 1.95 MnT in Q3’19 as compared to 1.7 MnT scrap exported in Q2’19.

On a yearly basis too, it has observed an increase in ferrous scrap export by 8% from 1.81 MnT scrap exported in Q2’2018.

South Korea remained the largest importer of ferrous scrap from Japan with a share of 43%, importing 0.83 MnT in Q3’19, down by 17% as compared to 1 MnT scrap imported in Q2’19. Another major importer Vietnam witnessed a sharp increase in ferrous scrap import by 130% to 1.06 MnT in Q3’19 as compared to 0.46 MnT scrap registered in Q2’19.

Followed by other major importers – Taiwan (0.18 MnT up by 50% Q-o-Q) & Bangladesh (0.06 MnT up by 50% Q-o-Q) during the Q3’19 with 9% and 3% share respectively.

Semi Finished: Japan has observed its semi finished exports to rise by 14% to 0.98 MnT in Q3’19 as against 0.86 MnT semi finished exported during the Q2’19, according to data maintained with SteelMint. On a yearly basis too, the country has witnessed an export increase by 11% from 0.88 MnT during the same period a year ago.

Taiwan remained the largest importer of semi finished as it imported 0.38 MnT during the Q3’19 with a 39% share of total semi finished exported by Japan.

Finish Flat: Japan’s finish flat export increased by 6% on a quarterly premise to 6.68 MnT in Q3 CY19 over 6.30 MnT in Q2 CY19.

However, the same inched down by 1% M-o-M to 2.21 MnT in Sep’19 in comparison with 2.24 MnT in Aug’19. The nation’s exports to India slashed by 60% M-o-M to 0.04 MnT in Sep’19 over 0.1 MnT in Aug’19 in the purview of seasonal slowdown and weakening demand from the automobile and construction sectors.

An increase in shipments of finish flat cargoes to Indonesia (0.43 MnT, up 22% Q-o-Q), Bangladesh (0.25 MnT, up 67% Q-o-Q) along with Taiwan (0.16 MnT, up 14% Q-o-Q) resulted in a rise in Japan’s exports during the Q3. Meanwhile, exports to China (1.04 MnT) witnessed a marginal increase of 4% during the quarter owing to the competitive offers from Japan.

Finish Long: Japanese exports for finish long steel fell by 3% Q-o-Q with 0.52 in Q3’19 as compared to 0.53 Q2’19. On a yearly basis, exports drop by 7% Y-o-Y from 0.56 MnT during the same period a year ago.

South Korea remained the major importer of finish long in Q3’19 as it imports 0.18 MnT down by 5% as against 0.19 MnT registered in Q2’19.

Fig in MnT
Source: SteelMint Stats & Customs Data