In July, steel exports from Japan went up by one percent year on year and five percent month on month, reaching 3.03 million mt, according to the data published by Japan’s Ministry of Finance. Japanese suppliers managed to ship last month an additional 152,000 mt compared to June and the growth was mainly supported by customers in the Middle East, which are not the major traditional importers of Japanese steel products.
Though Asia remained the main sales destination for Japan with exports at 2.38 million mt last month, shipments were in line with those in June and down by 4.8 percent year on year. High competition in Southeast Asia and weaker demand in some countries forced Japanese mills to turn their attention to other regions.
Exports from Japan to the Middle East was at 110,000 mt in July, doubled from June and 240 percent above from the same month last year. Moreover, taking into account active sales of flat steel production with August-September shipment to GCC, Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey in the June-July period, Japan will post further growth in exports to non-traditional destinations in the coming months.
“Japanese suppliers are not so aggressive at the moment due to price slump in Asia,” a source told SteelOrbis. The latest deals for Japanese HRC have been concluded at $550-555/mt CFR in Malaysia and Indonesia.
