According to statistics released by Japan's Ministry of Finance, Japan's ferrous scrap exports totaled 865,536 metric tons in March this year, rising by 3.5 percent month on month and up 26.4 percent compared to March 2012.
Meanwhile, in first quarter of 2013 the country's scrap exports amounted to 2.4 million mt, increasing 25.4 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
In the first quarter, Japanese scrap exports to South Korea totaled 1.5 million metric tons, while exports to China amounted to 768,629 metric tons, increasing by 23.5 percent and up 12.2 percent respectively, both compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Vietnam imported 76,567 mt of steel scrap from Japan in the first quarter, indicating a very strong increase compared to the 16,332 mt of scrap imports recorded in the first quarter of 2012.