In April this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.24 million metric tons, falling by 15.2 percent month on month and down by 10.2 percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 632,801 metric tons, with a month-on-month decrease of 7.1 percent and a year-on-year fall of 3.3 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).
In the first four months of this year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 13.6 million mt, declining by 3.9 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 2.69 million mt, rising by 0.6 percent, both compared to the same period of 2015.
Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the January-April period of this year the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 2.35 million mt, up 2.7 percent, while exports to China decreased by 0.5 percent to 1.79 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 817,282 metric tons, down 29.8 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 1.81 million metric tons, rising by 4.7 percent, while exports to the US totaled 642,529 metric tons, falling by 18.3 percent, all year on year.
In the January-April period of the current year, Japan imported 1.2 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, up 3.3 percent, it imported 590,203 metric tons from China, increasing by 1.2 percent, while imports from Taiwan fell 2.6 percent to 350,176 metric tons, all compared to the same period of 2015.
| Exports | Imports | |||||||
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| April 2016 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January-April 2016 | Change y-o-y (%) | April 2016 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January-April 2016 | Change y-o-y (%) |
| Semi-finished | 381,559 | -6.1 | 1,644,748 | -5.1 | 13,901 | -21.7 | 66,415 | 51.5 |
| Bars | 77,337 | 57.5 | 243,884 | 33.6 | 2,903 | -2.7 | 13,160 | 5.1 |
| Wire rod | 63,082 | -23.3 | 268,179 | 9.6 | 5,820 | -34.7 | 29,665 | 16.5 |
| Heavy plate | 219,570 | -21.8 | 942,187 | -15 | 35,639 | -33 | 164,097 | -19 |
| HRC | 1,025,900 | -13.3 | 4,282,151 | 4.4 | 139,343 | -3.3 | 552,441 | 6.6 |
| CRC | 205,130 | -15.6 | 873,472 | -2.3 | 60,768 | -6.8 | 265,554 | -16.9 |
| Galvanized sheet | 243,502 | -10.2 | 951,877 | -14.7 | 52,901 | -6.8 | 256,907 | 24.3 |
| Special steel | 614,376 | -24 | 2,665,915 | -2.0 | 96,640 | 24.8 | 387,163 | 29.9 |
| Stainless steel | 82,171 | -8.0 | 326,404 | -13.5 | 15,274 | -27.3 | 70,233 | 26.2 |