In April this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.0 million metric tons, falling by 13.2 percent month on month and down by 7.4 percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 712,213 metric tons, with a month-on-month decrease of 2.1 percent and a year-on-year rise of 12.6 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).
In the January-April period of this year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 12.87 million mt, declining by 5.6 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 2.84 million mt, rising by 5.4 percent, both compared to the same period of 2016.
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 2.09 million mt, down 10.9 percent, while exports to China increased by 7.3 percent to 1.92 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 906,972 metric tons, up 11 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 1.83 million metric tons, rising by one percent, while exports to the US totaled 624,465 metric tons, falling by 2.8 percent, all year on year.
In the January-April period of the current year, Japan imported 1.39 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, up 14 percent, it imported 457,326 metric tons from China, decreasing by 22.5 percent, while imports from Taiwan rose 10.4 percent to 386,618 metric tons, all compared to the same period of last year.
| Exports | Imports | |||||||
|
| April 2017 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January-April 2017 | Change y-o-y (%) | April 2017 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January-April 2017 | Change y-o-y (%) |
| Semi-finished | 351,816 | 3.4 | 1,387,168 | -15.7 | 20,034 | -2.0 | 75,229 | 13.3 |
| Bars | 37,618 | -26.3 | 165,486 | -32.1 | 1,200 | -70.3 | 11,187 | -15 |
| Wire rod | 52,419 | -18.2 | 225,513 | -15.9 | 5,538 | -17.7 | 24,833 | -16.3 |
| Heavy plate | 125,506 | -22.5 | 607,237 | -35.6 | 66,358 | -10.5 | 242,602 | 47.8 |
| HRC | 972,903 | -7.8 | 4,172,610 | -2.6 | 136,672 | -3.6 | 582,378 | 5.4 |
| CRC | 202,609 | -22.2 | 860,418 | -1.5 | 75,588 | -18.5 | 331,332 | 24.8 |
| Galvanized sheet | 226,364 | -17 | 987,962 | 3.8 | 52,576 | 1.0 | 231,460 | -9.9 |
| Special steel | 646,427 | -15.7 | 2,813,293 | 5.5 | 74,536 | 19.5 | 275,827 | -28.8 |
| Stainless steel | 83,931 | -8.2 | 335,707 | 2.9 | 18,129 | -11.9 | 75,028 | 6.8 |