Japan’s carbon finished steel imports up in August

Japan’s total iron and steel imports dipped again on a year-on-year basis in August, but the volume of carbon finished steel that the country bought from abroad increased for the first time since November last year.

September 30, 2015

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Total imports slipped just 1% last month to 665,911 tonnes, the tenth consecutive month of drops, according to figures from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) released on Tuesday September 29.

Imports of ferro-alloys made up 133,426 tonnes of that total, an 8.2% year-on-year decrease, while inbound shipments of speciality steel dropped 5.3% to 75,137 tonnes.

Carbon finished steel imports, however, rose 6.7% from a year earlier to 371,896 tonnes, the JISF figures showed.

In terms of origin, iron and steel imports from South Korea increased 10.2% to 301,332 tonnes, with carbon finished steel products making up 245,349 tonnes of that total, a 12.8% year-on-year increase.

Iron and steel imports from China fell 8.3% to 143,925 tonnes, while shipments from Taiwan edged up by 1.7% to 93,657 tonnes.

The following is a breakdown of imports according to main iron and steel product/category.