In February this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.38 million metric tons, rising by 6.1 percent month on month and up by three percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 716,113 metric tons, with a month-on-month increase of 8.3 percent and a year-on-year rise of 13.8 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).
In the first two months of this year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 6.57 million mt, declining by 2.3 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 1.37 million mt, showing zero growth, both compared to the same period of 2015.
Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the January-February period of this year the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 1.14 million mt, up 0.2 percent, while exports to China increased by 4.7 percent to 816,659 mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 400,896 metric tons, down 31.7 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 873,023 metric tons, declining by 5.4 percent, while exports to the US totaled 325,588 metric tons, falling by 23.2 percent, all year on year.
In the first two months of this year, Japan imported 613,067 metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, up 3.1 percent, it imported 318,279 metric tons from China, decreasing by 6.3 percent, while imports from Taiwan fell 3.3 percent to 173,678 metric tons, all compared to the same period of 2015.
| Exports | Imports | |||||||
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| February 2016 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January-February 2016 | Change y-o-y (%) | February 2016 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January-February 2016 | Change y-o-y (%) |
| Semi-finished | 445,506 | 8.4 | 856,634 | -5.8 | 13,143 | -39.2 | 34,763 | 118.1 |
| Bars | 56,755 | -6.5 | 117,459 | 36.6 | 3,425 | -11 | 7,272 | 21.9 |
| Wire rod | 71,667 | 39.9 | 122,905 | 7.8 | 7,780 | 8.8 | 14,927 | -5.4 |
| Heavy plate | 232,130 | 10.7 | 441,864 | -14.6 | 35,577 | -10.4 | 75,293 | -29.2 |
| 1,043,085 | 1.2 | 2,073,491 | 11.6 | 144,019 | 15.2 | 268,952 | - | |
| 204,452 | 7.4 | 425,194 | 2.03 | 76,440 | 21 | 139.569 | -15.7 | |
| Galvanized sheet | 228,861 | 9.9 | 437,107 | -14.6 | 85,848 | 39.9 | 147,218 | 31.5 |
| Special steel | 621,333 | - | 1,242,889 | -5.3 | 110,871 | 8.5 | 213,063 | 31.5 |
| Stainless steel | 75,645 | -4.5 | 154,882 | -11.8 | 17,739 | 9.4 | 33,961 | 30.5 |