Japan's Steel Exports Increase and Domestic Consumption Decreases

In the first half of this year, orders for Japanese steel products for domestic consumption declined. Meanwhile, steel exports from the country have grown.

According to the latest data released by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF), domestic special steel orders fell 4.2% year-on-year to 4.41 million tonnes. Conventional steel products for Japan's construction industry totaled 890,000 tonnes in June 2016, down 9.6% year on year. Orders from the auto industry declined slightly, down 1.5% y /y to 1 million tonnes in the month. Shipbuilding orders were down 2.6% year on year to total to 326,000 tonnes. The total volume of orders for steel products during the first six months of this year decreased slightly, by 0.7% compared to the previous year, to 26.8 million tons.

According to the Japanese Ministry of Finance (MOF), steel exports from the country increased during the month of July this year. Japan exported 355,000 tons of steel in July, up 1.3% from the previous year. Steel exports from the country registered an increase in July for the third straight month. On the other hand, steel imports registered a decline, falling 4.5% over the previous year. Japanese steel imports during the month amounted to 579,000 tons.

China was the main importer of heavy steel plates from Japan. Imports to China were down 5.8% from the previous year to 66,614 tons. Korea was the second largest importer with 62,738 tonnes. Other primary importers are Taiwan (1,929 tonnes) and the United States (654 tonnes). The country's steel pile exports rose by more than 46% during June this year to a total of 22,000 tons. The main importers of Japanese steel piles were China (10,000 tonnes), Taiwan (4,000 tonnes), Vietnam (3,000 tonnes) and Korea (1,000 tonnes). The cumulative export of steel piles in the first half of the year was 89,000 tons.