Japan's steel scrap exports dropped significantly in August

TOKYO (Scrap Monster): The steel scrap exports by Japan during the month of August this year declined considerably, as per the latest data released by the country’s Ministry of Finance. According to MoF data, the country’s scrap exports totaled 535,000 tons during the month.

The exports were down marginally by 4.2% when compared with the exports during the same month a year before. The country’s steel scrap exports during August last year had totaled 558,000 tons. The Japanese steel scrap exports dropped sharply when compared with the previous month. The exports were down by nearly 28.7% when matched with the exports of 750,000 tons during July this year.

The largest importer of Japanese scrap during the month of August this year was South Korea. The scrap imports by South Korea totaled 293,000 tons, constituting nearly 55% of the total scrap exports by Japan during the month. The scrap exports to South Korea dropped by nearly 12% over the previous year. Japan had exported 333,000 tons of scrap to South Korea during August 2014. In second place was China with scrap steel imports from Japan totaling to 129,000 tons. The exports to China dropped heavily by over 220% year-on-year. The other main importers of Japanese steel scrap were Vietnam (99,000 tons, up 108%) and Taiwan (4,000 tons, down 69.3%).

The cumulative scrap exports by Japan during the initial eight-month period of the year totaled 5.422 million tons.

The country’s steel scrap export for the whole year 2015 is estimated at 8.133 million tons.