In December last year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.58 million metric tons, rising by 10.5 percent month on month and down by six percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 694,443 metric tons, with a month-on-month increase of 2.2 percent and a year-on-year decrease of 4.8 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).
In 2015, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 41.64 million mt, declining by a slight margin of 1.1 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 8.03 million mt, decreasing by 13.5 percent, both compared to 2014.
Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in 2015 the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 6.63 million mt, down 9.1 percent, while exports to China decreased by 9.7 percent to 5.36 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 2.9 million metric tons, down 15.9 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 5.21 million metric tons, declining by six percent, while exports to the US totaled 2.44 million metric tons, falling by 4.8 percent, all year on year.
In 2015, Japan imported 3.52 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, down 13.8 percent, it imported 1.8 million metric tons from China, decreasing by 15.2 percent, while imports from Taiwan fell 3.7 percent to 1.12 million metric tons, all compared to 2014.
| Exports | Imports | |||||||
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| December 2015 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | 2015 | Change y-o-y (%) | December 2015 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | 2015 | Change y-o-y (%) |
| Semi-finished | 477,547 | 28 | 4,780,099 | -9.8 | 12,578 | -35.5 | 151,032 | -40.4 |
| Bars | 52,230 | 16.1 | 614,514 | 105.5 | 3,815 | -33.5 | 40,770 | -4.3 |
| Wire rod | 74,955 | 39.7 | 755,677 | 6.2 | 8,404 | 26.4 | 109,463 | 0.7 |
| Heavy plate | 252,766 | 3.9 | 3,081,931 | 10.1 | 57,444 | 38.6 | 591,515 | -12.6 |
| HRC | 1,151,782 | 5 | 13,065,324 | 15 | 144,988 | 2.3 | 1,652,818 | -4.3 |
| CRC | 196,372 | 2.3 | 2,713,250 | -4 | 67,339 | 4.2 | 844,767 | -15.9 |
| Galvanized sheet | 232,802 | 0.3 | 3,154,821 | -16.3 | 64,553 | -5.2 | 726,306 | -10.3 |
| Special steel | 626,329 | 7.2 | 7,717,824 | -12.7 | 96,413 | 11.2 | 975,009 | -9.2 |
| Stainless steel | 83,654 | 22.4 | 1,051,432 | -8.8 | 16,452 | 20.6 | 173,634 | -16.5 |