Japan's Oct steel exports dip 13% on mills' lower sales
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Japan's all kinds of steel exports for October fell 13% on year to about 2.47 million tonnes, or the sixth consecutive month posting an on-year decline, mainly as the Japanese integrated mills had been prioritizing supplies to domestic customers, Mysteel Global understood from the preliminary data released by Japan's Ministry of Finance on November 18.
Last month, the country's steel exports stayed largely flat on month, and the Asian market remained its top export destination, receiving 1.97 million tonnes of steel shipment from Japan, which went down 12.4% on year and 2% lower on month.
Last month, Japan allocated less steel to China as the demand from the other Asian countries had increased together with the recovery in their economies, a steel trader in Tokyo shared, "but the Japanese mills have only limited volumes for exports (with their still on-year lower steel output), so they had to cut down on supplies to China," he added.
China used to be the dominant importer of the Japanese steel until July-August when elsewhere in the world was in a fierce battle against the pandemic, Mysteel Global noted.
Japan's October steel exports were mostly booked in July-August, and that was when the country's auto sector has started ramping up their output while the domestic integrated mills had producing at lower levels with some of their blast furnaces idled, a second Tokyo-based steel trader commented.
Although the Japanese mills have been gradually lifting their output and restarting their banked furnaces one by one, domestic steel demand especially from the auto sector seems to be outpacing the growth in demand, so the country's steel exports are unlikely to expand largely, he added.
Japan's Oct Steel Exports by Country/Region (selected)
| Country/Region | Volume ('000 tonnes) | M-o-M | Y-o-Y |
| ASEAN | 770 | +14.6% | -21.7% |
| China | 457 | -21.9% | +6.8% |
| South Korea | 359 | +15.1% | -21.9% |
Source: Ministry of Finance, preliminary trade data
A company official from Nippon Steel, confirmed on Thursday that a blast furnace at the company's Muroran Works in Hokkaido has completed its relining, ready to be reignited on November 22, and a banked blast furnace at its Kimitsu Area of East Nippon Works will definitely be back online by the end of November, both as planned.
As for steel imports, Japan bought 597,562 tonnes of steel of all kinds in October, down 13.1% on year but up 24% on month, according to the preliminary data.
Written by Yoko Manabe, yoko.manabe@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
