Japan’s total iron and steel exports increased by 3.9pc to 2.8mn mt in April compared to the same month in 2019, according to Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF) data. Preliminary imports data of iron and steel fell by 7pc in April 2020 to 665,350mt against the same month last year. Iron and steel exports from Japan are four-times more than its import activity.
Exports rise for semi-finished steel
Semi-finished exports increased by 62.4pc in April to 446,085mt compared to the same period in 2019, while specialty steel products fell by 14pc to 509,223mt during the same comparative period. Ordinary steel product exports were almost flat in April at 1.8mn mt from the same month a year ago.
In April, exports to South Korea decreased by 2pc to 454,513mt, declined by 8.1pc to China, and fell by 15.2pc to 36,0579mt to Thailand compared with April 2019. Exports to Taiwan increased by 38.8pc to 265,595mt but decreased to the US by 14pc to 106,460mt, during the same period.
Japan’s iron and steel exports increased by 17.6pc to 12.1mn mt in the January-April period from the same period last year. Year-to-date semi-finished product exports increased by 83.9pc to 1.6mn mt from the first four months of 2019, while specialty steel product exports rose by 1.6pc to 2.3mn mt during the same period. Ordinary steel product exports increased by 15.1pc to 7.8mn mt in the first four-months of 2020 from the same period a year ago.
Ordinary steel drives imports share
Ferroalloys made up 21.5pc of the total 665,350mt of imports in April 2020, while imports of ordinary steel constituted 56.2pc of total imports, though it declined by 10.2pc to 373,679mt in April 2020 compared to volumes imported in April 2019. Specialty steel imports decreased by 25.9pc to 50,795mt in April 2020 compared with the same month last year.
Imports in April 2020, compared to April 2019, decreased by 14.5pc to 282,131mt from Korea, declined by 16.1pc to 133,525mt from China, and increased by 10.4pc to 96,394mt from Taiwan.
For the first four months in 2020, ordinary steel imports decreased 14.9pc to 1.4mn against the same period in 2019. Ferroalloys imports decreased by 14.4pc to 505,769mt in January-April 2020 compared to the same four-month period a year ago, while specialty steel fell 24.8pc also in the same time period to 223,230mt.