Japan's iron and steel product exports down 4.2 percent in 2018

In December last year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 2.88 million metric tons, falling by three percent month on month and down by 13.5 percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 663,900 metric tons, with a month-on-month decline of 9.9 percent and a year-on-year decline of 1.8 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF).

In 2018, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 36.53 million mt, declining by 4.2 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 8.36 million mt, falling by 0.8 percent, both compared to 2017. 

Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in 2018 the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 5.4 million mt, down 9.5 percent, while exports to China decreased by one percent to 5.6 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 2.91 million metric tons, down by 0.6 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 5.86 million metric tons, rising by 5.2 percent, while exports to the US totaled 1.5 million metric tons, falling by 19.6 percent, all year on year. 

In 2018, Japan imported 3.75 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, down 6.8 percent, it imported 1.45 million metric tons from China, decreasing by 3.9 percent, while imports from Taiwan fell by 0.4 percent to 1.11 million metric tons, all compared to the same period of last year.