Japan's April iron ore imports rose 4% over previous month

TOKYO (Scrap Monster) : According to recent statistics released by the Ministry of Finance, Japan’s iron ore imports during April were slightly higher when compared to the previous month imports.

As per Ministry of Finance, Japan imported 10.5 million tons of iron ore during the month of April this year. The imports during the month are up by 3.9% in comparison with the imports during March. Also, the April imports this year were marginally higher by 1.6% in comparison with the imports during April 2012.

The net import revenues generated by iron ore imports by the country during April amounted to $117.5 million. The import revenues during April have improved by 8.7% in comparison with the previous month. However, the import revenues saw a decline of 10.1% year-on-year.

The total iron ore imports by Japan during the initial four months of the year totaled 42.85 million tons. The imports during this period have improved by 2.5% in comparison with same period the previous year.

The major exporter of iron-ore to Japan during the period from January to April this year was Australia. The imports by Japan from Australia totaled 27.3 million tons, which is 9.5% higher in comparison with the same period a year ago. Brazil emerged Japan’s second largest exporter of iron-ore. Brazil’s exports to Japan totaled 11.1 million tons, which is 11% lower when compared with the same period a year ago.