Japan’s steel exports up by 2.2 percent in Q1

According to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance, Japan's steel exports in the first quarter of the current year amounted to 11.31 million metric tons, rising by 2.2 percent year on year, while Japan's steel imports in the same period hit 1.84 million metric tons, with a year-on-year increase of 23.9 percent.
 
Regarding Japan's major steel export markets, in the first three months of this year the country's steel exports to South Korea totaled 2.55 million metric tons, down 13.8 percent; exports to China rose 4.2 percent and reached 1.93 million metric tons; the export volume to Taiwan reached 970,608 metric tons, down 7.5 percent; exports to Thailand totaled 1.16 million metric tons, dropping by 1.8 percent; while exports to the US came to 519,483 metric tons, climbing by 68.4 percent, all compared to Q1 2010.
 
Meanwhile, Japan's steel exports in March, when the country hit by a disastrous earthquake on March 11, decreased by 2.9 percent year on year reaching 4.09 million metric tons. Japan's steel imports in the given month came to 666,972 metric tons - up 29.3 percent year on year.