According to the customs statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance, Japan's iron and steel product exports in January this year amounted to 3.66 million metric tons, increasing by 24.2 percent compared to the same month of 2012 and down by 5.5 percent month on month, while Japan's steel imports amounted to 631,421 metric tons, with a month-on-month decrease of 2.6 percent and a year-on-year decrease of 9.9 percent.
Regarding Japan's major steel export markets, in January the country's steel exports to South Korea totaled 641,976 mt, up 4.7 percent, while steel exports to China decreased by 0.3 percent to 429,521 mt; the export volume to Taiwan amounted to 391,511 mt, up 71.7 percent; exports to Thailand totaled 487,042 mt, up 38.5 percent; while exports to the US came to 187,588 mt, increasing by 7.6 percent, all compared to the same month of the previous year.
In January, Japan imported 244,682 mt of steel from South Korea, down six percent, it imported 22,057 metric tons from China, down by 55.2 percent, while imports from Taiwan came to 66,397 mt, decreasing by 15.8 percent, all year on year.
