Japan's iron and steel product exports down 14.5 percent in September

In September this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 2.7 million metric tons, falling by 14.1 percent month on month and down by 14.5 percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 627,911 metric tons, with a month-on-month increase of 10.6 percent and a year-on-year decline of 0.2 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).

In the January-September period of this year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 27.55 million mt, declining by 3.6 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 6.12 million mt, falling by 3.9 percent, both compared to the same period of 2017. 

Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the first nine months of this year the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 4 million mt, down 11.7 percent, while exports to China decreased by 2.5 percent to 4.11 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 2.11 million metric tons, down by 3.7 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 4.33 million metric tons, rising by 6.6 percent, while exports to the US totaled 1.14 million metric tons, falling by 21.7 percent, all year on year. 

In the January-September period of the current year, Japan imported 2.78 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, down 9.1 percent, it imported 1.05 million metric tons from China, decreasing by 10.9 percent, while imports from Taiwan fell by 3.9 percent to 802,780 metric tons, all compared to the same period of last year.