Japan: Stocks of imported flats dip in Feb

For February, Japan's stocks of imported carbon steel flats including hot-rolled coils (HRCs), cold-rolled coils (CRCs), and heavy plates at key ports of Tokyo and Osaka decreased 1.2% on month to 159,000 tonnes, according to the data released by Japanese trading house - Hanwa Co. on March 29. Market sources shared that the tonnage remained at a high level despite the on-month decline in February.

The data compiled by the Japanese trading house since September 1991 have become a key indicator of the country's demand for imported carbon steel flats to market participants, Mysteel Global notes.

The Hanwa officials who are in charge of compiling port stocks data were not available for comments, but their latest data showed that Japan's port stocks of imported flats were 40.7% higher on year, or the second highest since July 2020. Sources cited slower deliveries from ports to auto-related buyers amid the country's new wave of COVID-19 outbreak.

"We expect the unloading of new arrivals at ports to become smoother in following months, but volumes of imported flats will be reduced overall because of high levels of stocks held by Japanese coil centers and auto-related buyers. And port stocks may decline, though it largely depends on how fast Japanese automakers can lift their output," a Tokyo-based flat steel trader predicted.

He added that overseas suppliers' price hikes for flat products were decided earlier than those by Japanese suppliers, so their prices had become unattractive for Japanese buyers, which also contributed to the decline in new arrivals at ports.

Japan imported approximately 189,082 tonnes of HRCs, CRCs and plates in February, down 11.9% from January and 22.2% lower on year, according to the latest data from Trade Statistics of Japan.

This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.