In June this year, Japan's iron and steel product exports amounted to 3.43 million metric tons, falling by 5.9 percent month on month and up by 0.4 percent year on year, while Japan's iron and steel product imports totaled 622,191 metric tons, with a month-on-month decrease of 2.2 percent and a year-on-year fall of 3.2 percent, according to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (JISF).
In the first half of this year, Japanese iron and steel product exports amounted to 20.72 million mt, declining by 1.8 percent, while Japanese iron and steel product imports came to 3.95 million mt, remaining almost stable, both compared to the same period of 2015.
Regarding Japan's major iron and steel product export markets, in the first half of this year the country's iron and steel exports to South Korea totaled 3.57 million mt, up 8.6 percent, while exports to China decreased by 2.2 percent to 2.72 million mt, the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 1.28 million metric tons, down 22.8 percent, exports to Thailand totaled 2.86 million metric tons, rising by 11.3 percent, while exports to the US totaled 950,209 metric tons, falling by 23.2 percent, all year on year.
In the first half of the current year, Japan imported 1.78 million metric tons of iron and steel products from South Korea, up 3.1 percent, it imported 838,620 metric tons from China, decreasing by 2.8 percent, while imports from Taiwan fell 1.6 percent to 539,881 metric tons, all compared to the same period of 2015.
| Exports | Imports | |||||||
|
| June 2016 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January-June 2016 | Change y-o-y (%) | June 2016 (mt) | Change m-o-m (%) | January-June 2016 | Change y-o-y (%) |
| Semi-finished | 399,569 | -10.8 | 2,492,267 | 3.2 | 11,015 | -60.9 | 105,604 | 69.5 |
| Bars | 60,010 | -17.2 | 376,395 | 21.8 | 2,071 | -13.9 | 17,637 | -3.4 |
| Wire rod | 76,160 | 11.9 | 412,412 | 9 | 6,438 | 18.9 | 41,517 | -15.1 |
| Heavy plate | 249,521 | -0.7 | 1,442,963 | -10.9 | 46,320 | 4.3 | 254,806 | -16.5 |
| HRC | 1,064,189 | -15.6 | 6,606,939 | 5 | 116,771 | -22.7 | 820,199 | 5.0 |
| CRC | 214,997 | - | 1,303,493 | -5.4 | 60,012 | -5.4 | 389,021 | -14.3 |
| Galvanized sheet | 259,154 | 18.2 | 1,430,190 | -4.2 | 48,119 | -16 | 362,296 | 14.4 |
| Special steel | 679,122 | 2.6 | 4,006,947 | - | 81,000 | 25.7 | 532,593 | 18.1 |
| Stainless steel | 84,363 | 11.1 | 486,716 | -0.8 | 16,871 | -3.6 | 104,599 | 26.9 |