Japan

The domestic recycled steel market continued its upward trend from late February. Strong demand from buyers led to intermittent price increases totalling a significant Yen 5000 per tonne between late February and late March. Several positive factors - including a recovery in domestic demand, high export figures and a weaker yen - contributed to this robust market performance.

On April 9, the Kanto Iron and Steel Cooperative Association’s recycled steel export tender auction saw a successful bid for 10,000 tonnes at Yen 54,329 per tonne - a Yen 4208 improvement from the previous month. This means a total increase since August last year of Yen 12,613 per tonne and also the highest level achieved in more than three years since the Yen 55,438 recorded in March 2023.

According to trade statistics from the Ministry of Finance, Japan’s recycled steel exports for the fiscal year running from April 2025 to March 2026 saw an increase when compared to the previous 12 months of 10.6% to 7,526,487 tonnes. In recent years, exports have generally been in the 6.5 to 6.8 million tonnes range; this marks the first time in five years that exports exceeded 7 million tonnes since the 8,832,156 tonnes for fiscal year 2020. By importing country, Vietnam ranked first for the second consecutive year with an increase of 16.3% to 3,203,717 tonnes, exceeding 3 million tonnes for the first time since the 3,240,621 tonnes registered in fiscal year 2020.

According to the Japan Iron and Steel Federation’s preliminary report, domestic crude steel production for the fiscal year running from April 2025 to March 2026 amounted to 80,330,500 tonnes, down 3.2% from the previous period. This marks the fourth consecutive year of decline and also the fourth consecutive year in which production fell below 90 million tonnes.