Japan – world’s third largest ferrous scrap exporter, witnessed a fall in its scrap exports by 8% to 0.64 mn t in Aug’20 as against 0.7 mn t a month ago, as per customs data maintained with SteelMint. Also, on yearly basis, exports have fallen against 0.67 mn t in Aug’19.
Vietnam continues to remain the largest importer, volumes fall – Vietnam remained the largest scrap buyer from Japan and registered imports of 0.28 mn t (down 7% from Jul’20). Vietnamese mills restocked more seaborne scrap during Jun-Aug’20. Scrap demand is expected to stay firm in the next few months on sustained demand from China and improving domestic demand after the monsoon season ends in October.
South Korea’s scrap imports from Japan rose slightly by 6% m-o-m in Aug’20 to 0.17 mn t. Exports to Bangladesh rebounded by 41% in Aug’20 due to restocking by mill on low inventories.
Japan’s recovering domestic demand limits scrap exports – Drop-in scrap exports attributed to tight availability, recovering domestic demand, as most market participants expected downstream manufacturing activities for improvement.
According to data released by METI, Japan’s ferrous scrap production fell by 3% m-o-m in Jul’20.
Japan’s leading steel mill – JFE Steel forecasted that Japan’s automotive demand is expected to pick up by 30% in H2 FY’20. Also sectors like ship building and civil engineering are expected to recover in the second half.
Japan’s crude steel production is witnessing gradual recovery from 6 mn t in Jul’20 to 6.45 mn t in Aug’20, according to data from WSA.
Quantity in mn t
Source: SteelMint stats & customs data
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