In March this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.46 million metric tons, rising by 7.8 percent month on month and down by 9.5 percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 727,590 metric tons, with a month-on-month increase of 16 percent and a year-on-year rise of 6.8 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).
In the first quarter of this year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 9.86 million mt, declining by 5.1 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 2.12 million mt, rising by 3.2 percent, both compared to the same period of 2016.
Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the first quarter of this year the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 1.56 million mt, down 11.4 percent, while exports to China increased by 6.7 percent to 1.42 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 672,213 metric tons, up 7.4 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 1.44 million metric tons, rising by 3.1 percent, while exports to the US totaled 494,236 metric tons, rising by 6.1 percent, all year on year.
In the first quarter of the current year, Japan imported 1.1 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, up 13 percent, it imported 336,832 metric tons from China, decreasing by 23.9 percent, while imports from Taiwan rose 12.8 percent to 293,487 metric tons, all compared to the same period of last year.
| Exports | Imports | |||||||
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| March 2017 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January-March 2017 | Change y-o-y (%) | March 2017 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January-March 2017 | Change y-o-y (%) |
| Semi-finished | 340,355 | 5.0 | 1,035,353 | -18 | 20,438 | 111.3 | 55,196 | 5.1 |
| Bars | 51,042 | 34.6 | 127,868 | -23.2 | 4,038 | 187.7 | 9,987 | -2.6 |
| Wire rod | 64,103 | 18.9 | 173,094 | -15.6 | 6,732 | 5.3 | 19,295 | -19.1 |
| Heavy plate | 161,975 | 1.0 | 481,731 | -33.3 | 74,159 | 38.1 | 176,244 | 37.2 |
| HRC | 1,055,470 | -0.4 | 3,199,707 | -1.7 | 141,725 | -11.2 | 445,706 | 7.9 |
| CRC | 260,485 | 23.8 | 657,809 | -1.6 | 92,738 | 22 | 255,744 | 24.9 |
| Galvanized sheet | 272,661 | 3.2 | 761,597 | 7.5 | 52,035 | -5.3 | 178,884 | -12.3 |
| Special steel | 767,087 | 13 | 2,166,866 | 5.6 | 62,396 | 10.5 | 201,291 | -30.7 |
| Stainless steel | 91,438 | 4.2 | 251,777 | 3.1 | 20,579 | 4.1 | 56,900 | 3.5 |