By Anil Mathews

TOKYO (Scrap Monster): The latest trade statistics published by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (MoF) suggests significant jump in scrap exports by the country during the month of February this year. The exports recorded month-over-month rise for the first time in two months. However, the exports failed to touch the levels recorded during the same month a year before, said MoF press release.

According to MoF data, the country’s scrap exports totaled 711,000 tons during February this year. The exports surged higher by 10.4% when compared with the previous month. The Japanese scrap exports had totaled 644,000 tons during the first month of the current year. However, the exports declined by 4.4% over the year. Japan had exported 744,000 tons of scrap during February last year.

The largest export destination of Japanese scrap was South Korea. The scrap exports to South Korea totaled 354,000 tons, accounting for nearly 50% of the total scrap exports by Japan during the month. The scrap exports to the country increased significantly by over 36% when compared with the same month in 2016. Traditionally, South Korea has been the primary importer of Japanese scrap over the past several years. The second largest destination of Japanese scrap was China. The scrap exports to China totaled 154,000 tons, representing nearly 22% share of Japanese total exports. The exports to the country surged higher by 26% when compared with the previous year.

Meantime, figures suggest that Japan’s steel products exports declined during February this year. The country’s exports totaled 3.209 million tons, dropping for the first time in two months. When matched with exports during February 2016, the steel exports were down by 5.1%. The country had exported 3.381 million tons of steel products during the same month last year.

Out of 3.209 million tons, ordinary steel exports totaled 2.116 million tons. The ordinary steel exports continued to decline for the sixth straight month. Year-on-year, the ordinary steel exports declined by 4.7% in February. The single largest category of ordinary steel exports by the country during the month was Hot-Rolled Coils, the exports of which totaled 1.055 million tons, registering marginal rise of nearly 2% over the previous year. Also, galvanized steel exports increased sharply by 15.5% to 246,000 tons during the month. On the other hand, steel plate exports plunged heavily by 31% over the previous year to 160,000 tons. This is the sixth consecutive month of decline for steel plate exports, MoF data said.

Meantime, the country’s crude steel production registered sharp decline during the month of February this year. The monthly crude steel production totaled 663,000 tons, down by 7.4% when matched with the production of 716,000 tons during January 2017. The production declined marginally by 0.1% when matched with the same month a year before.

The country had exported 155,814 metric tons (MT) of ordinary steel scrap during January this year. The country’s exports of waste and scrap of Stainless Steel totaled 9,547 metric tons in January ‘17. As per statistics, Japan exported 748 metric tons (MT) of waste and scrap of other alloy steel during Jan ’17. The monthly exports of waste and scrap of shredded steel scrap totaled 39,294 metric tons during the month. The country exported 309,404 MT of Waste & Scrap of Heavy Melting Scrap and 197 MT of waste and scrap of tinned heavy melting scrap.