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Japan’s Steel Exports Nosedived Over 19% in January

The preliminary trade statistics published by the Japanese Ministry of Finance (MoF) suggests major downfall in steel export volumes from the country during the initial month of 2019.

The country’s exports of steel during Jan ’19 totaled 2.46 million tonnes (Mt), which is significantly lower by 19.2% when matched with the same month a year before. Japan had exported in excess of 3 Mt in January 2018. It was also down by 14.6% over the prior month. The MoF press release stated that this is the third straight month that the output has fallen below 3 Mt mark. It attributed the export decline to several factors including facility troubles and the series of natural disasters.

The country’s steel exports were valued at 237.13 billion yen, significantly lower by 13.7% year-on-year.

The main destination of steel exports from Japan was the Asian region, which received 1.94 Mt of the total exports by the country. This accounted for almost 79% of Japanese steel exports in January this year. Among Asian countries, South Korea continued to be the top importer with receipts of 0.382 Mt. However, exports to South Korea registered notable decline by over 19% upon comparison with the previous year. The imports by China totaled 0.382 Mt, down by 16.7% over the previous year.

Among remote export destinations, the Middle East, Russia and the U.S. reported decline in import volumes from Japan. On the other hand, exports to the EU region recorded marginal rise during Jan ’19.