Japan's stocks of imported flats fall in end-Nov, but still high

By the end of last month, stocks of imported carbon steel hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and heavy plates at Japan's key ports of Tokyo and Osaka had slipped by 1.7% on month to 170,000 tonnes, making for the first decline after the jump in October, according to the latest data released by Japanese trading house, Hanwa Co.

Though flats inventories fell last month, the total was still 13.3% higher from the end-November level in 2021, Mysteel Global noted. Moreover, if the October leap to 178,000 tonnes is ignored, last month's stocks were the highest since May 2020, Hanwa's data showed, belying relatively weak demand among consuming sectors.

The statistics that Hanwa has been compiling and publishing since September 1991 are recognized as key indicators of the country's demand for imported carbon steel flats, Mysteel Global notes.

Underscoring the weak market conditions was the leap in HRC stocks at Tokyo port by 10.4% from end-October to 53,000 tonnes.

Portside hot coil inventories rose last month, even though the latest data from Japan Iron & Steel Federation showed that Japan's HRC imports from all origins slipped by 1.8% on month in November to 119,172 tonnes.

Half of these - 65,539 tonnes - came from South Korea, but the problems that POSCO and Hyundai Steel were having with hot coil supply (POSCO because of Pohang's floods, and Hyundai Steel the labour strikes at its Dangjin works, as reported) did not seriously impact the volume.

The Korean imports were only 1.2% down on October and were higher by 6.5% from November last year, the JISF data showed.

On the other hand, end-November stocks of CRC at Tokyo and Osaka were both lower significantly from end-October, while at the same time, Japan's imports of CRC last month fell by 4.1% from October to 67,301 tonnes, two-thirds of which - 43,226 tonnes - sailed from South Korea, largely unchanged on month.

The reductions in CRC stocks at wharves suggested that traders hurried to deliver them to customers after the uptick in Japanese automobile production had led the integrated mills to prioritize their CRC output for automotive use, limiting the amount of tonnage available for spot sales and non-automotive use, Mysteel Global noted.

Written by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com

Edited by Zhenqi Yang, yangzhenqi@mysteel.com

Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.