Japan's ferrous scrap exports volume reached an 11-year high of 9.39 million mt in 2020, according to data from the country's finance ministry, driven by increased demand from Bangladesh, Vietnam and Taiwan.
Vietnam was the top destination for Japanese material at 3.41 million mt, up 54.6% from a year ago, and overtaking South Korea's historical number one spot. The latter accounted for only 2.96 million mt, down 24.6% on the year, while Taiwan stood at 1.11 million mt, up 70.9% on the year.
Notably, volumes to Bangladesh continued to see growth with 2020 volumes at 867,635 mt, increasing almost 2.7 folds from 2019.
Majority of the uptick in 2020 volumes came from exports during the first half of the year, with February-April seeing larger amounts of scrap pushed out into the export market amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which took seaborne prices to its lowest level in the year.
The S&P Global Platts Japanese H2 FOB index fell to a 3.5-year low of $184.0/mt on April 8. The bearish spell, however, did not last long. The index reached an all-time assessment high of $427.0/mt on Dec. 16.
South Korean steelmakers, traditionally being the largest importer of Japanese scrap, were not spared from the pandemic, resulting in the country's ferrous scrap imports hitting an over 25-year low in 2020, Platts reported previously.
Meanwhile, increasing crude steel capacity in Vietnam lifted the country's appetite for imported scrap, as its domestic supplies were less abundant in contrast to manufacturing nations such as South Korea, for instance. The surge in China's demand for semi-finished steel in Q2 and Q3, similarly lent support to Vietnamese steelmakers' hunger for the raw material.
