According to statistics released by Japan's Ministry of Finance, Japan's hot rolled coil (HRC) exports totaled 740,356 metric tons in October this year, increasing by 5.8 percent month on month and up 11.05 percent compared to October 2010.
In the month in question, South Korea saw its HRC imports from Japan decrease by 44.9 percent month on month to 83,756 metric tons, while a drop of 62.4 percent was registered compared to July 2010. Thailand imported 149,519 metric tons from the same source, up 6.4 percent month on month and up 35.2 percent year on year, while China's HRC imports from Japan fell 20.3 percent as compared to the previous month to 47,076 metric tons, down 6.5 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, in the January-October period of 2010, Japan's HRC exports amounted to 7.4 million metric tons, falling by 2.7 percent as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
In the first 10 months of this year, Japanese HRC exports to South Korea totaled 1.96 million metric tons, falling by 34.37 percent, exports to Thailand came to 1.34 million metric tons, down by 2.26 percent, while India doubled its HRC imports from Japan to 331,471 metric tons, all compared to January-October 2010.