Posted on 22 Apr 2021
Japan’s finished steel exports of all grades and forms for the fiscal year 2020 (April 2020-March 2021) slumped to its 20-year low of about 30.8 million tonnes, or down 12.2% on year, Mysteel Global noted from the latest preliminary data released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance on April 19.
The FY2020 volume was just slightly higher than 29.3 million tonnes for FY2000, or it had been below 40 million tonnes since FY17 after having peaked at 43.4 million tonnes for FY12, according to Trade Statistics of Japan.
Among the destinations, Asia remained the top for Japan’s steel exports, buying about 24.4 million tonnes for FY20, or down 12% on year, among which exports to the ASEAN-6 and South Kora declined while the volume to China gained the first time in four years, according to the data.
The tonnage to the ASEAN-6 countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam approximated 9.75 million tonnes, or below 10 million tonnes for the first time since FY2009, as the countries have been rather slow in recovering from the COVID-19 outbreak.
“China got rid of the negative impact of the COVID-19 much earlier than the others, and we have been receiving inquiries from the Chinese customers consistently while the demand from the others has been stagnated,” a Tokyo-based trader explained, but “if the Japanese mills had had more for exports, the tonnage to China could have reached higher,” he added.
Japan's FY20 Steel Exports by Country/Region (selected)
|
Country/region |
Volume ('000 tonnes) |
Y-o-Y |
|
ASEAN |
9,745 |
-17.7% |
|
China |
5,754 |
+12.2% |
|
South Korea |
4,392 |
-21.8% |
Source: Ministry of Finance, preliminary trade data
The preliminary data have illustrated the trader’s view, as for March, Japan’s steel exports approximated 3.1 million tonnes, down 9.9% on year, or the eleventh consecutive month with on-year drops, though the volume was up 16.5% on month and having exceeded 3 million tonnes for the first time since March 2020.
“Japanese mills have been prioritizing domestic long-term contracts, but now that the export prices have been rising and appearing very attractive, they probably will try to maximize their exports,” a second Tokyo-based steel trader commented.
For FY20, Japan’s steel imports totalled 6.54 million tonnes, down 17.3% on year, and South Korea was the largest seller with 3.3 million tonnes, which declined 10% on year, and as for March, the import volume totalled 651,242 tonnes, up 9.2% on year and 9.3% higher on month, according to the preliminary data.
The on-year decline in Japan’s steel imports was due to the overseas suppliers’ prioritizing their domestic market and the lack of pricing competitiveness for the Japanese bids, according to the second trader, and “even the March volume was still comparatively low despite the rises,” he added.
The Japan Iron & Steel Federation will release the country’s detailed steel exports and imports data by product on April 30.
Source:Mysteel Global
