Japan's iron and steel product exports down 16.4% in Apr from Mar

In April this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.24 million metric tons, decreasing by 11.1 percent year on year and by 16.4 percent compared to the previous month, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 794,415 metric tons, with a month-on-month decrease of 10.9 percent and a year-on-year increase of 26.2 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).
 
In the first four months of the current year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 13.63 million mt, decreasing by 9.2 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 3.36 million mt, increasing by 43.1 percent, both compared to the January-April period of 2013.
 
Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the first four months of this year the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 2.50 million mt, down 6.5 percent, while exports to China increased by 0.8 percent to 1.99 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 1.10 million metric tons, down 23.1 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 1.84 million metric tons, down three percent, while exports to the US came to 757,826 metric tons, decreasing by six percent, all compared to the same period of 2013.
 
In the January-April period of the current year, Japan imported 1.56 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, up 36.3 percent, it imported 727,771 metric tons from China, up 89.5 percent, while imports from Taiwan rose to 409,924 metric tons, increasing by 26.7 percent, all compared to the same period of 2013.