Japan's stainless steel scrap imports drop sharply in December

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

The imports during the month fell sharply by 17.3% when compared with the previous month. The stainless steel scrap imports by Japan totaled 7,247 tons in December. Japan had imported 8,767 tons of stainless steel scrap during the month of November last year.

During the month of December, the largest exporter stainless steel scrap to Japan was South Korea. The exports from South Korea totaled 4,029 tons. The Japanese imports from South Korea dropped by nearly 2.5% when compared with the imports of 4,132 tons during Nov ‘15. In second place was Taiwan with total exports of 1,360 tons. The stainless steel scrap exports from Taiwan to Japan dropped by more than 10% month-on-month from 1,512 tons. The imports from South Korea and Taiwan accounted for 56% and 19% respectively of the total imports by the country during December. In third place was the US with 772 tons. The imports from the US dropped significantly by 58% over the previous month.

The country’s stainless steel scrap exports during the whole year 2015 totaled 89,951 tons. South Korea was the largest exporter of stainless steel scrap to Japan during the year. The imports from South Korea totaled 51,624 tons, accounting for more than 57% of the annual imports by the country. Japan’s stainless steel scrap imports from other countries during the year were: the USA (14,899 tons), Taiwan (12,178 tons), Indonesia (2,584 tons), Thailand (2,285 tons) and Singapore (2,214 tons).