Japan's billet exports hit 15-month high in Jun'21

Japan registered a sharp increase of 34% m-o-m in its monthly billet export volumes in Jun'21to 0.38 million tonnes (mn t) as against 0.29 mn t in May'21, as per customs data collated by SteelMint. Taiwan remained the largest importer at 0.11 mn t in Jun'21 followed by South Korea and Thailand.

Importantly, billet exports from Japan hit a 15-month high in Jun'21. Prior to this, the highest volume of exports was recorded at 0.4 mn t in Apr'20. Japanese steel mills turned active in billet exports in May'21 on lower margins in domestic rebar sales on the back of higher domestic scrap prices. Notably, bids for H2 scrap purchase by Tokyo Steel increased from JPY 42,000/tonne (t) DAP Utsunomiya to JPY 49,000/t DAP in end-June'21.

Japan's billet exports fall 18% y-o-y in H1CY'21

Japan's billet exports were recorded at 1.7 mn t in Jan-Jun'21, down by 18% y-o-y as compared to 2.04 mn t in Jan-Jun'20.

Japan supplied the highest volume of billets to Taiwan at 0.61 mn t during Jan-Jun'21 though the volumes fell by 14% y-o-y.

South Korea, being in the second position among the top importers' list, imported 0.46 mn t in H1CY'21 followed by Thailand with 0.20 mn t.

Export volumes to South Korea and Thailand were down by 18% and 32% y-o-y, respectively.