According to the customs statistics released by Japan's Ministry of Finance, Japan's stainless flat steel exports totaled 72,570 metric tons in March this year, rising by 27.3 percent month on month and down 16.1 percent compared to the same month of 2012.
In the first quarter of 2013, Japan's stainless flat steel exports amounted to 182,956 metric tons, falling by 10.8 percent year on year. In the first quarter this year, Japanese stainless flat steel exports to South Korea totaled 46,359 metric tons, while exports to Taiwan amounted to 31,392 metric tons, decreasing by 3.8 percent and 14.8 percent respectively, both compared to the first quarter of the previous year. In the period in question, the country's stainless flat steel exports to Thailand and China amounted to 26,636 mt and 26,577 mt, rising 28.9 percent and down 43.9 percent respectively on year-on-year basis.