TOKYO: According to latest statistics released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MoF), the country’s imports of steel scrap dropped considerably during the month of October this year. The imports during the month declined sharply by nearly 5.7% when compared with the previous month. The steel scrap imports by Japan totaled 10,700 tons in October.
Japan had imported 11,400 tons of steel scrap during the month of September this year. Upon comparison with the import during the same month a year before, the Japanese steel scrap imports during September this year were down by nearly 36.3%. The country had imported 16,800 tons of steel scrap during October 2014.
During the month of October, the largest exporter of steel scrap to Japan was South Korea. The exports from South Korea totaled 7,000 tons. The Japanese imports from South Korea dropped sharply by 22.7% when compared with the imports of 9,050 tons during Oct ‘14. The imports from Korea accounted for nearly 65.4% of the total steel scrap imports by Japan during the month.
The country’s steel scrap exports during the initial ten-month period of the year totaled 123,000 tons. The cumulative imports dropped heavily by 64.0% year-on-year during this period. The steel scrap imports by Japan during January to October last year had totaled 342,000 tons. The largest exporter of steel scrap to Japan during the initial ten-month period of the year was South Korea. The exports from South Korea totaled 81,000 tons.
The Japanese imports from South Korea dropped marginally by 0.3% when compared with the imports during the corresponding period a year before. In second place was the US with total exports of 13,000 tons. The steel scrap exports from the US to Japan dropped sharply by 88% year-on-year. The country’s monthly imports of steel scraps averaged at 12,300 tons. The imports are likely to total 148,000 tons during the entire year 2015.
