According to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance, Japan's iron and steel product exports in March this year amounted to 3.9 million metric tons, decreasing by 4.7 percent compared to the same month of 2011 and up by 20.75 percent month on month, while Japan's steel imports hit 662,045 metric tons, with a month-on-month increase of 9.8 percent and a year-on-year decrease of 0.7 percent.
In the first quarter of the current year, Japan's steel exports amounted to 10.06 million mt, decreasing by 11 percent compared to the first quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, Japan's steel imports increased seven percent year on year in the first quarter, amounting to 2 million mt.
Regarding Japan's major steel export markets, in the first quarter the country's steel exports to South Korea totaled 2.1 million mt, down 17 percent, while steel exports to China decreased by 22 percent to 1.5 million metric tons; the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 780,998 metric tons, down 20 percent; exports to Thailand totaled 1.1 million metric tons, down five percent; while exports to the US came to 665,197 metric tons, increasing by 28 percent, all compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
In the first quarter, Japan imported 736,156 metric tons of steel from South Korea, up 14 percent, it imported 151,005 metric tons from China, up by 31 percent, while imports from Taiwan rose to 214,650 metric tons, increasing by 17 percent, all compared to the January-March period last year.
Exports | Imports | ||||||
March 2012 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | Change y-o-y (%) | March 2012 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | Change y-o-y (%) | ||
Semi-finished | 464,578 | 28.1 | -5.6 | 6,746 | -82.2 | 3.8 | |
Bars | 29,627 | 44.1 | 20.6 | 2,804 | 11.2 | 19.2 | |
47,000 | 52.7 | 9.7 | 29,640 | 2 | 2.7 | ||
Heavy plate | 353,299 | 37.6 | 2.7 | 42,262 | 2.2 | 38.9 | |
925,365 | 17.8 | 1.8 | 162,277 | 24.3 | 16.3 | ||
314,276 | 13.4 | -13.1 | 72,636 | 22.3 | -0.5 | ||
Galvanized sheet | 400,116 | 10.4 | -16.1 | 48,823 | 10.15 | 33.8 | |
Special steel | 722,227 | 14 | -11 | 45,165 | 21.1 | 78 | |