Posted on 29 Oct 2021
Japanese steel exports in September continued their on-year recovery, driven by volumes to China and Korea. Exports to spot markets such as Vietnam, however, have slumped, Kallanish notes.
In September, Japan’s steel exports were up 1% month-on-month and 21% year-on-year at 2.919 million tonnes, according to Customs data. Over January-September, exports were up 7% to 25.426mt.
Flats composed the bulk of Japan's September exports at 2.128mt, up 17% y-o-y and steady m-o-m. Across the first nine months of this year these were 18.569mt, an increase of 9% y-o-y.
Exports to Thailand have been marked by lower HRC volumes and higher CRC volumes (see Kallanish passim). Japan's September exports of carbon and alloy steel HRC to Thailand were 221,174t, a decrease of 32% from last month, but an increase of 129% from last year, while over nine months these hit 2.516mt, rising 117% y-o-y.
Recovering Chinese automotive output has been supporting Japanese shipments to China even as other countries have seen commodity grade steel exports to China dry up. Japan shipped 207,422t of carbon and alloy steel HRC to China in September, a 12% m-o-m increase, but a 32% decrease y-o-y. Between January-September it exported 1.815mt of carbon and alloy steel HRC to China, up 117% y-o-y.
Shipments to South Korea meanwhile have also picked up from a low base at the start of the year. Exports of carbon and alloy steel HRC to Korea in September hit 242,604t, up 15% m-o-m and 45% y-o-y. This brings the nine-month total to 1.588mt, down 19% from last year.
Vietnam as a market has stabilised since the easing of restrictions, but is still taking much less Japanese steel than in 2020. Exports of carbon and alloy steel HRC to Vietnam reached 80,045t in September, up 1% m-o-m but still down 51% y-o-y, and 818,452t over January-September, a drop of 39% on-year.
Japan also saw an 11% m-o-m rise and a 78% y-o-y increase in long product exports to 426,191t. Over January-September total longs product exports were 3.343mt, up 37% y-o-y.
Japan also reported semis exports of 280,994t, a decrease of 5% m-o-m but an increase of 1% y-o-y. During January-September semis exports totalled 2.792mt, down 14% y-o-y.
The volume of pipes exported in September fell 11% m-o-m and 3% y-o-y, at 84,299t. Pipes exports reached 722,053t through January-September, down 30% y-o-y.
Source:Kallanish
