Japan's iron and steel product exports down 6.5 percent in June

In June this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.21 million metric tons, rising by 0.5 percent month on month and down by 6.5 percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 773,489 metric tons, with a month-on-month increase of 9.1 percent and a year-on-year rise of 24.3 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).

In the first half of this year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 19.27 million mt, declining by seven percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 4.32 million mt, rising by 9.3 percent, both compared to the same period of 2016. 

Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the first half of this year the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 3.12 million mt, down 12.6 percent, while exports to China increased by 6.3 percent to 2.88 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 1.42 million metric tons, up 10.6 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 2.73 million metric tons, falling by 4.7 percent, while exports to the US totaled 967,847 metric tons, rising by 1.9 percent, all year on year. 

In the January-June period of the current year, Japan imported 2.08 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, up 17.1 percent, it imported 762,366 metric tons from China, decreasing by 9.1 percent, while imports from Taiwan rose 6.4 percent to 574,227 metric tons, all compared to the same period of last year.