Japan's July steel exports up

Data from the Japanese Iron and Steel Federation show that Japan's steel exports rose 16.8 percent year on year to 3.02 million metric tons in July 2006. Japan's steel exports to South Korea rose 14.9 percent year on year to 707,000 metric tons in July, while those to China grew 23 percent to 563,000 metric tons. However, Japan's steel exports to Thailand fell 1.5 percent to 327,000 metric tons, while those to Taiwan rose 5.8 percent to 302,000 metric tons. Japan's steel exports to the US jumped 45.8 percent to 186,000 metric tons.