Japan’s steel exports declined by 18.4% y-o-y to 2.39 million tonnes (mnt) in September 2022. This is the third consecutive month of y-o-y decline and is the first time since January 2022 when the volumes dropped below 2.4 mnt.
Exports in the overseas market continued to remain under pressure due to the impact of typhoon Hinnamnor and periodic renovation of hot-rolled mills (HRM) in the Oita area of the Kyushu steelworks. The global HRC export offers fell to $600/t levels despite the Japanese currency depreciating to the levels of 150 against the US dollar.
Japan’s exports to China dropped by 31.3% to 293,000 tonnes (t) in the month under review, reaching below the 300,000 t level for the first time since last 5 months. Exports to South Korea dropped by 28.3% to 342,000 t in September. Meanwhile, exports to European Union (EU) almost doubled to 142,000 t and those to the Middle East rose by 32.1% to 40,000 t.
Cumulative exports stood at 16.08 mnt in April-September 2022, down 7.6% from the year ago period.
Steel imports down y-o-y in September
Japan’s steel imports too recorded a fall of 5.4% y-o-y to 568,000 t in September.
Imports from South Korea fell by 7.6% to 265,000 t whereas shipments from China registered an increase of 4.7% to 102,000 t.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Japan Metal Daily and SteelMint.
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