Japan's iron and steel product exports down 1.2 percent in May

In May this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.48 million metric tons, falling by 3.4 percent month on month and down 1.2 percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 634,896 metric tons, with a month-on-month decline of three percent and a year-on-year decrease of 14.1 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).
 
In the first five months of the current year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 17.68 million mt, rising by three percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 3.31 million mt, decreasing by 19.3 percent, both compared to the same period of 2014. 
 
Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the first five months this year the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 2.77 million mt, down nine percent, while exports to China decreased by 8.2 percent to 2.82 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 1.41 million metric tons, down 1.9 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 2.16 million metric tons, down 7.2 percent, while exports to the US totaled 1.01 million metric tons, increasing by 4.4 percent, all year on year. 
 
In the January-May period, Japan imported 1.44 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, down 24.2 percent, it imported 731,781 metric tons from China, down 18.8 percent, while imports from Taiwan fell 12.3 percent to 448,260 metric tons, all compared to the first five months of 2014.