Japan's Jan-July graphite electrode imports plunge 37% as AD duties bite

Japan's imports of graphite electrodes from all sources worldwide during July, the first full month that final anti-dumping duties were in place, dropped by 23.6% from July last year to just 1,482 tonnes, new Japanese Customs statistics show. The July result took the total for the first seven months of this year to 7,334 tonnes, lower by a large 36.7% from January-July last year, the data show.

The decline is clearly attributable to the singeing AD penalties imposed on China-origin electrodes earlier this year, according to Japanese sources. Chinese electrode imports in July plunged by 54.7% from July last year to just 386 tonnes, with the result that imports of electrodes from China during January-July reached