Japan: Billets export drop 15% y-o-y in Jan-Oct'21

Japan registered billets exports of 2.68 million tonnes (mn t) in Jan-Oct'21, down by 15% y-o-y as compared to 3.17 mn t in Jan-Oct'20, data maintained with SteelMint shows.

Taiwan largest importer

Taiwan continued to be the largest importer of steel billets from Japan at 0.98 mn t in Jan-Oct'21. However, the import volumes were down y-o-y 8% as against 1.07 mn t in the corresponding period last year (CPLY).

South Korea acquired the second position among the top importers' list with 0.77 mn t in Jan-Oct'21, a y-o-y decrease of 8%. Following this was Thailand with 0.35 mn t, down by 24%, y-o-y.

China imported 0.27 mn t of steel billets from Japan in Jan-Oct'21, witnessing a sharp y-o-y decrease of 39%, according to customs data maintained with SteelMint.

Billets export drop 17% in Oct'21

Exports of steel billets from Japan stood at 0.20 mn t in Oct'21, a m-o-m decline of 17% as against 0.24 mn t in Sept'21.

South Korea was the largest importer of steel billets with 0.07 mn t in Oct'21, though the volumes fell by 12%, m-o-m.

China was the second-largest importer with 0.04 mn t in Oct'21 followed by Taiwan and Thailand with 0.04 mn t and 0.03 mn t, respectively.

Higher domestic steel demand and weaker Chinese buying interest could probably be the reasons for the decline in overall exports. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) forecasted on 10 Oct'21 that the country's crude steel production will increase by 16% to 96.19 million tonnes (mn t) in CY'21 compared to the previous year. METI pointed out that although the recovery is steady, it is still not as good as it was before the outbreak of Covid-19. Japan's crude steel production in Oct-Dec'21 is expected to inch up 0.8% q-o-q and by 9.6% y-o-y to 24.11 mn t.