Japan's iron and steel product exports down 10.3 percent in October

In October this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.02 million metric tons, falling by 4.6 percent month on month and down by 10.3 percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 672,731 metric tons, with a month-on-month increase of 6.9 percent and a year-on-year fall of 4.7 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).

In the first ten months of this year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 31.6 million mt, declining by 8.5 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 7.04 million mt, rising by 5.7 percent, both compared to the same period of 2016. 

Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the first ten months of this year the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 4.97 million mt, down 16 percent, while exports to China increased by 1.6 percent to 4.66 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 2.42 million metric tons, up 13.9 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 4.5 million metric tons, falling by 6.6 percent, while exports to the US totaled 1.59 million metric tons, falling by 7.9 percent, all year on year. 

In the January-October period of the current year, Japan imported 3.36 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, up 11.2 percent, it imported 1.28 million metric tons from China, decreasing by 8.2 percent, while imports from Taiwan rose 3.7 percent to 928,030 metric tons, all compared to the same period of last year.