Japan's Nickle imports from Indonesia rise 85% y-o-y in July: Customs Data
Metal Recycling News | 2012-08-30 08:35:15
Japan's nickle imports from Indonesia advanced sharply by 85% year-on-year to 190,445 tons in July this year, according to the latest customs cleared data on Thursday.
By Paul Ploumis
TOKYO (Scrap Monster): Japan's nickle imports from Indonesia advanced sharply by 85% year-on-year to 190,445 tonnes in July this year, according to the latest customs cleared data on Thursday.
That follows 136,600 tons of nickel imports in June, more than four times last year's 31,483 tons, when a big smelter was forced to shut a plant in the wake of the quake. Japan buys more than half the nickel ore it purchases under annual contracts from Indonesia.
The nickle imports rose mainly due to the arrival of cargoes delayed after Jakarta imposed new mining regulations and because figures for 2011 were decimated by the deadly earthquake and tsunami that hit in March that year.
China, the world's leading consumer and producer of nickel, saw its nickel ore imports from Indonesia plunge 29.4 percent in July from the previous month to 1.42 million tonnes, according to customs data on Aug. 21.
