According to statistics released by Japan's Ministry of Finance, Japan's hot rolled (HR) flat steel exports totaled 1.02 million metric tons in April this year, decreasing by 20.3 percent month on month and up 1.6 percent compared to April 2011.
Meanwhile, in the first four months of 2012 Japan's hot rolled flat steel exports amounted to 4.3 million metric tons, falling by 3.9 percent as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
In the first four months of this year, Japanese hot rolled flat steel exports to South Korea totaled 1.3 million metric tons, falling by 18.8 percent, exports to Thailand came to 587,651 metric tons, rising 10.1 percent, while China's hot rolled steel imports from Japan decreased by 14.1 percent to 459,581 metric tons, all compared to January-April 2011.