In March this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.82 million metric tons, rising by 13 percent month on month and down by one percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 681,231 metric tons, with a month-on-month decrease of 4.9 percent and a year-on-year rise of six percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).
In the first three months of this year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 10.3 million mt, declining by 1.8 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 2.05 million mt, rising by 1.9 percent, both compared to the same period of 2015.
Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the January-March period of this year the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 1.76 million mt, up 1.2 percent, while exports to China increased by 3.2 percent to 1.3 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 626,058 metric tons, down 30.9 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 1.39 million metric tons, rising by 2.6 percent, while exports to the US totaled 465,746 metric tons, falling by 21.1 percent, all year on year.
In the January-March period of the current year, Japan imported 946,309 metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, up 5.3 percent, it imported 442,386 metric tons from China, increasing by 2.1 percent, while imports from Taiwan fell 3.5 percent to 260,122 metric tons, all compared to the same period of 2015.
| Exports | Imports | |||||||
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| March 2016 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January-March 2016 | Change y-o-y (%) | March 2016 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January-March 2016 | Change y-o-y (%) |
| Semi-finished | 406,555 | -8.7 | 1,263,189 | -3.4 | 17,751 | 35.1 | 52,514 | 125.4 |
| Bars | 49,088 | -13.5 | 166,547 | 19.3 | 2,985 | -12.8 | 10,257 | 6.4 |
| Wire rod | 82,192 | 14.7 | 205,097 | 13.2 | 8,918 | 14.6 | 23,845 | 6.2 |
| Heavy plate | 280,753 | 20.9 | 722,617 | -9 | 53,164 | 49.4 | 128,457 | -15.4 |
| HRC | 1,182,761 | 13.4 | 3,256,252 | 8.9 | 144,146 | - | 413,098 | 6.7 |
| CRC | 243,148 | 18.9 | 668,342 | 0.15 | 65,217 | -14.7 | 204,786 | -17.4 |
| Galvanized sheet | 271,268 | 18.5 | 708,375 | -14.1 | 56,788 | -33.9 | 204,006 | 20.1 |
| Special steel | 808,651 | 30.1 | 2,051,539 | -1 | 77,460 | -30.1 | 290,523 | 29.1 |
| Stainless steel | 89,351 | 18.1 | 244,233 | -14.8 | 20,998 | 18.4 | 54,959 | 33.6 |