Japan's iron and steel product exports down 8.5 percent in 2017

In December last year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.33 million metric tons, rising by 4.2 percent month on month and down by 1.6 percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 676,123 metric tons, with a month-on-month decline of 6.1 percent and a year-on-year fall of 4.7 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).

In 2017, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 38.13 million mt, declining by 8.5 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 8.44 million mt, rising by 4.2 percent, both compared to the same period of 2016. 

Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in 2017 the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 5.96 million mt, down 14.4 percent, while exports to China increased by 1.8 percent to 4.63 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 2.93 million metric tons, up 14.1 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 5.6 million metric tons, falling by 3.6 percent, while exports to the US totaled 1.87 million metric tons, falling by 9.3 percent, all year on year. 

In 2017, Japan imported 4.03 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, up 9.8 percent, it imported 1.51 million metric tons from China, decreasing by 9.7 percent, while imports from Taiwan rose 2.2 percent to 1.11 million metric tons, all compared to the same period of last year.