Japan's iron and steel product exports down 7.5 percent in 2019

In December last year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 2.76 million metric tons, rising by 1.6 percent month on month and down by 4.1 percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 681,729 metric tons, with a month-on-month decline of 7.9 percent and a year-on-year increase of 2.7 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF).

In 2019, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 33.79 million mt, declining by 7.5 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 8.69 million mt, up by 3.9 percent, both compared to 2018. 

Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in 2019 the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 5.4 million mt, up 0.2 percent, while exports to China decreased by 8.1 percent to 5.12 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 2.26 million metric tons, down by 22.5 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 5.19 million metric tons, falling by 11.5 percent, while exports to the US totaled 1.28 million metric tons, falling by 14.6 percent, all year on year. 

In 2019, Japan imported 3.88 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, up 3.2 percent, it imported 1.68 million metric tons from China, increasing by 15.8 percent, while imports from Taiwan fell by 2.7 percent to 1.08 million metric tons, all compared to the same period of last year.