Japan steel scrap exports rebound in October

By Anil Mathews (ScrapMonster Author)

November 30, 2015 01:27:33 AM

TOKYO (Scrap Monster): The steel scrap exports by Japan during the month of October recovered from previous month lows, as per the latest data released by the country’s Ministry of Finance. According to MoF data, the country’s scrap exports totaled 639,000 tons during the month.

The exports were up sharply by 9.4% when compared with the exports during the same month a year before. The country’s steel scrap exports during October last year had totaled 584,000 tons. The Japanese steel scrap exports jumped higher significantly when compared with the previous month. The exports were up by 28.1% when matched with the exports of 499,000 tons during September this year.

The largest importer of Japanese scrap during the month of October this year was South Korea. The scrap imports by South Korea totaled 220,000 tons, constituting nearly 35% of the total scrap exports by Japan during the month. The scrap exports to South Korea dropped by nearly 17.9% over the previous year. Japan had exported 268,000 tons of scrap to South Korea during October 2014. In second place was China with scrap steel imports from Japan totaling to 177,000 tons. The exports to China increased marginally by 5.3% year-on-year. The other main importers of Japanese steel scrap were Vietnam (158,000 tons, up sharply by 102.6%) and Taiwan (43,000 tons, down 34.2%).

The cumulative scrap exports by Japan during the initial ten-month period of the year totaled 6.56 million tons.

The country’s steel scrap export for the whole year 2015 is estimated at 7.90 million tons.