Author: Paul Ploumis
10 Mar 2015 Last updated at 08:37:57 GMT

TOKYO (Scrap Monster): According to latest statistics released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MoF), the country’s imports of stainless steel scrap surged higher during January this year.

The imports during the month jumped higher by 8% when compared with the previous month. The stainless steel scrap imports by Japan totaled 9,331 tons in December. Japan had imported 8,642 tons of stainless steel scrap during the month of December last year.

During the month of January, the largest exporter stainless steel scrap to Japan was South Korea. The exports from South Korea totaled 5,380 tons. The Japanese imports from South Korea increased 3.67% when compared with the imports of 5,190 tons during Dec ’14. In second place was the US with total exports of 1,842 tons. The stainless steel scrap exports from the US to Japan increased sharply by 26.9% month-on-month. Taiwan remained the third largest exporting nation, with total Japanese imports touching 598 tons. When compared with the month before, the stainless steel scrap imports from Taiwan plunged by over 35%.

According to MoF data released for the month of January 2015, the country’s monthly import prices averaged at ¥ 199,578 per ton, down 2.5% from the previous month.