Japan's iron and steel product exports up two percent in February

In February this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.28 million metric tons, falling 4.7 percent month on month and up two percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 629,171 metric tons, with a month-on-month decline of 15.9 percent and a year-on-year decrease of 17.2 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).
 
In the first two months, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 6.72 million mt, rising by 3.1 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 1.37 million mt, decreasing by 17.9 percent, both compared to the same period of 2014.
 
Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the first two months, the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 1.14 million mt, up 2.2 percent, while exports to China decreased by 15.16 percent to 779,767 mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 586,777 metric tons, down 1.5 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 922,409 metric tons, up 3.3 percent, while exports to the US totaled 423,860 metric tons, increasing by six percent, all year on year.
 
In the January-February period, Japan imported 492,644 metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, down 21.6 percent, it imported 89,411 metric tons from China, up 16 percent, while imports from Taiwan rose to 156,782 metric tons, falling by 14.5 percent, all compared to the first two months of 2014.