According to statistics released by Japan's Ministry of Finance, Japan's hot rolled (HR) flat steel exports totaled 1.28 million metric tons in March this year, increasing by 22.7 percent month on month and up two percent compared to March 2011.
Meanwhile, in the first quarter of 2012 Japan's hot rolled steel exports amounted to 3.27 million metric tons, falling by 5.5 percent as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
In the first three months of this year, Japanese hot rolled steel exports to South Korea totaled 1.04 million metric tons, falling by 16.95 percent, exports to Thailand came to 420,896 metric tons, rising 7.8 percent, while China's hot rolled steel imports from Japan decreased by 17.7 percent to 338,468 metric tons, all compared to January-March 2011.