Japan’s steel exports up eight percent in H1

According to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance, Japan's iron and steel product exports in June this year amounted to 3.7 million metric tons, increasing by 2.2 percent compared to the same month of 2012 and up by 0.6 percent month on month, while Japan's steel imports totaled 580,069 metric tons, with a month-on-month decrease of 5.9 percent and a year-on-year decrease of 9.9 percent.
 
In the first half of the year, Japanese steel exports amounted to 22.4 million mt, rising eight percent, while Japanese steel imports came to 3.5 million mt, decreasing by 10 percent, both compared to the first half of the previous year.
 
Regarding Japan's major steel export markets, in the first half the country's steel exports to South Korea totaled 4 million mt, down 5.9 percent, while steel exports to China decreased by 2.3 percent to 3 million metric tons; the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 2.1 million metric tons, up 23.7 percent; exports to Thailand totaled 2.9 million metric tons, up 18 percent; while exports to the US came to 1.14 million metric tons, decreasing by 13.3 percent, all compared to the same period of the previous year.
 
In the first half, Japan imported 1.66 million metric tons of steel from South Korea, down 12.7 percent, it imported 605,218 metric tons from China, down by 11 percent, while imports from Taiwan fell to 503,823 metric tons, decreasing by 0.4 percent, all compared to the same period of the previous year.