By Anil Mathews (ScrapMonster Author)

December 30, 2015 02:43:19 AM

TOKYO (Scrap Monster): According to latest statistics released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MoF), the country’s imports of steel scrap dropped significantly during the month of November this year.

The imports during the month declined sharply by nearly 24.5% when compared with the previous year. The steel scrap imports by Japan totaled 11,200 tons in November. Japan had imported 14,800 tons of steel scrap during the month of November last year. Upon comparison with the import during the previous month, the Japanese steel scrap imports during Nov ‘15 were marginally up by nearly 4%. The country had imported 10,700 tons of steel scrap during October 2015.

During the month of November, the largest exporter of steel scrap to Japan was South Korea. The exports from South Korea totaled 5,700 tons. The Japanese imports from South Korea dropped sharply by 65.9% when compared with the imports of 16,700 tons during Nov ‘14. The imports from Korea accounted for over 50% of the total steel scrap imports by Japan during the month. The steel scrap imports from the US increased marginally by 1.7% over the previous year to 2,000 tons.

The country’s steel scrap imports during the initial eleven-month period of the year totaled 134,200 tons.

Meantime, the country’s steel scrap exports increased marginally by 0.6% year-on-year to 584,000 tons during Nov ’15.

The largest importer of steel scrap from Japan during the month was South Korea. The exports to South Korea totaled 164,000 tons. The South Korean imports from Japan dropped significantly by 35.6% when compared with the imports during the same month a year before. In second place was Vietnam with total imports of 155,000 tons. The steel scrap exports from Japan to Vietnam dropped surged higher considerably by 15.8% year-on-year. The other major destinations of Japanese steel scrap export were China (128,000 tons, down 25.4% y-o-y), and Taiwan (75,000 tons, down 14.2% y-o-y).