In November this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.23 million metric tons, falling by 5.7 percent month on month and down by 1.8 percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 679,241 metric tons, with a month-on-month decline of 2.9 percent and a year-on-year increase of one percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).
In the first 11 months of the current year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 38.06 million mt, declining by a slight margin of 0.6 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 7.33 million mt, decreasing by 14.3 percent, both compared to the same period of 2014.
Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the first 11 months this year the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 6.1 million mt, down 9.7 percent, while exports to China decreased by 8.9 percent to 4.94 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 2.7 million metric tons, down 15 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 4.81 million metric tons, declining by 5.3 percent, while exports to the US totaled 2.21 million metric tons, falling by 1.1 percent, all year on year.
In the January-November period, Japan imported 3.2 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, down 15.9 percent, it imported 1.64 million metric tons from China, decreasing by 15 percent, while imports from Taiwan fell 3.4 percent to 1.03 million metric tons, all compared to the first 11 months of 2014.
| Exports | Imports | |||||||
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| November 2015 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January- November 2015 | Change y-o-y (%) | November 2015 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January- November 2015 | Change y-o-y (%) |
| Semi-finished | 372,940 | -8.5 | 4,302,552 | -11.9 | 19,505 | 13 | 138,454 | -41.5 |
| Bars | 44,976 | 6 | 562,284 | 119.9 | 5,735 | 68.6 | 36,955 | -2.6 |
| Wire rod | 53,665 | -15.9 | 680,721 | 4.4 | 6,651 | -54.8 | 101,059 | 0.3 |
| Heavy plate | 243,275 | -4.8 | 2,829,165 | 13.3 | 41,440 | -29.4 | 534,071 | -14.9 |
| HRC | 1,096,420 | 4.6 | 11,913,541 | 16 | 141,776 | -10.05 | 1,507,830 | -6.2 |
| CRC | 191,873 | -19.5 | 2,516,878 | -3.3 | 64,641 | 4.4 | 777,428 | -16.6 |
| Galvanized sheet | 232,178 | -9.3 | 2,922,018 | -15.7 | 68,062 | -11.3 | 661,753 | -11.5 |
| Special steel | 584,433 | -9.5 | 7,091,495 | -11.7 | 86,715 | 3 | 878,596 | -8.8 |
| Stainless steel | 68,364 | -21.2 | 967,777 | -9.4 | 13,647 | -24.9 | 157,183 | -20.3 |