Japan's steel exports see year-on-year decline for the first time in three years

TOKYO (Scrap Monster): The most recent trade data released by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF) indicates that steel exports by Japan declined during the year 2014 when compared with the year before. This is the first time in three years that the country’s steel exports have declined over the year.

The country’s exports of steel products were down by 3.2% to 41.703 million tons in 2014 when compared with 2013. The revenue generated by steel products exports by the country totaled ¥ 3,958.6 billion, nearly 4.4% higher when compared with the previous year.

The Japanese steel exports to Asian region totaled 32.303 million tons, accounting for more than three-fourths of the total exports by the country during 2014. The exports to Asian countries declined by 5.4% over the year. Also, the steel products export to China dropped nearly 3.2% during the year. The other primary export destinations were: USA (2.475 million tons, up 9.0%), Middle East (1.847 million tons, up 8.8%), EU (291,000 tons, up 0.3%) and Russia (125,000 tons, down 36.7%).

The Japanese steel imports during Oct ’14 totaled 8.915 million tons. The imports from Asia totaled 7.477 million tons, accounting for nearly 85% of the imports by Japan. The imports from Asian countries surged higher by 23.5% during the year. The imports from China surged significantly higher by 74.7% to 1.921 million tons. The imports from Russia too went higher by 6.2% over the year to 249,000 tons.