Japan's iron and steel product exports down 10.5 percent in Jan-Feb

In February this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.22 million metric tons, decreasing by 11.4 percent year on year and by 2.6 percent compared to the previous month, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 759,898 metric tons, with a month-on-month decrease of 17.3 percent and a year-on-year increase of 47 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance.
 
In the first two months of the current year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 6.52 million mt, decreasing by 10.5 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 1.68 million mt, increasing by 46.2 percent, both compared to the January-February period of 2013.
 
Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the first two months this year the country's exports to South Korea totaled 1.11 million mt, down 10.8 percent, while exports to China increased by 5.3 percent to 919,113 mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 577,737 metric tons, down 22.1 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 892,651 metric tons, down 2.4 percent, while exports to the US came to 400,154 metric tons, increasing by 3.4 percent, all compared to the same period of 2013.
 
In the January-February period of the current year, Japan imported 791,323 metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, up 37.9 percent, it imported 345,469 metric tons from China, up 82.2 percent, while imports from Taiwan rose to 138,800 metric tons, increasing by 38.8 percent, all compared to the same period of 2013.