In May this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.19 million metric tons, rising by 6.5 percent month on month and down by 12.5 percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 708,950 metric tons, with a month-on-month decrease of 0.5 percent and a year-on-year rise of 11.5 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).
In the January-May period of this year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 16.06 million mt, declining by 7.1 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 3.54 million mt, rising by 6.5 percent, both compared to the same period of 2016.
Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the first five months of this year the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 2.57 million mt, down 13.6 percent, while exports to China increased by 6.7 percent to 2.4 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 1.16 million metric tons, up 10 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 2.27 million metric tons, falling by 2.8 percent, while exports to the US totaled 780,673 metric tons, falling by 1.1 percent, all year on year.
In the January-May period of the current year, Japan imported 1.75 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, up 15.7 percent, it imported 590,974 metric tons from China, decreasing by 16.7 percent, while imports from Taiwan rose 5.9 percent to 478,196 metric tons, all compared to the same period of last year.
Exports |
Imports |
|||||||
|
May 2017 (mt) |
Change m-o-m (%) |
January-May 2017 |
Change y-o-y (%) |
May 2017 (mt) |
Change m-o-m (%) |
January-May 2017 |
Change y-o-y (%) |
Semi-finished |
343,162 |
-2.5 |
1,730,330 |
-17.3 |
18,826 |
-6.0 |
94,056 |
-0.6 |
Bars |
39,048 |
3.8 |
204,534 |
-35.4 |
2,650 |
120.8 |
13,836 |
-11.1 |
Wire rod |
57,677 |
10 |
283,190 |
-15.8 |
6,346 |
14.6 |
31,179 |
-11.1 |
Heavy plate |
164,548 |
31.1 |
771,785 |
-35.3 |
71,984 |
8.5 |
314,586 |
50.9 |
HRC |
951,103 |
-2.2 |
5,123,713 |
-7.6 |
142,759 |
4.4 |
725,137 |
3.1 |
CRC |
226,326 |
11.7 |
1,086,744 |
-0.2 |
71,290 |
-5.7 |
402,622 |
22.4 |
Galvanized sheet |
255,296 |
12.8 |
1,243,258 |
6.2 |
65,820 |
25.2 |
297,280 |
-5.4 |
Special steel |
708,445 |
9.6 |
3,521,739 |
5.8 |
92,982 |
24.7 |
368,809 |
-18.3 |
Stainless steel |
85,441 |
1.8 |
421,148 |
4.7 |
27,789 |
53.3 |
102,818 |
17.2 |