Japan’s imports of iron ore and coal both held up above expectations in March given the earthquake and tsunami of March 11. But further consideration shows that there was little reason for imports to fall during the month.
After all no bulk importing ports were affected and ships were already on their way when the earthquake struck in the north east of the country. Subsequently, of course, it is believed that demand has fallen due to rolling power outages and (for steel) because of reduced general demand. So it is in the next few months that we might expect to see a reduction in imports but even then these imports could still exceed the expectations of many if the rebuilding program is accelerated as the government is encouraging.
As for March itself iron ore imports were 11.2 million tonne to give a year-to-date total of 31.7 million tonne (down 2.1% as compared to Q1 2010) while for coal imports reached 16 million tonne and were over 1 million tonne more than March 2010.
On a year-to-date basis coal imports in Q1 were ahead by 4.7% with steam coal racing ahead by 14.7% and more than compensating for the 6% fall in coking coal imports. So the immediate months ahead appear to imply a reduction in imports but because of the strong efforts at re-building already in action this may not be so noticeable.
( Source: www.steelguru.com )