Japan H-beam Export Up and Import Down in F2006

Japanese H-beam export totaled 228,752 tonnes in fiscal 2006 ended March 2007, up by 77.9% from fiscal 2005, while the H-beam import totaled 118,610 tonnes in fiscal 2006, down by 36% from fiscal 2005, announced Ministry of Finance on Monday. The export unit price surged up by 15.1% to 78.76 yen per tonne compared with previous year.South Korea was the largest H-beam importer from Japan in fiscal 2006 and Hong Kong was the second. Japanese H-beam export increased by 33.6% to 111,210 tonnes bound for South Korea in fiscal 2006 from fiscal 2005 and expanded to 22,046 tonnes or 2.4 times as much as fiscal 2005 for Hong Kong. The top 2 countries were same as fiscal 2005 followed by Taiwan, Guinea and Singapore.Japanese H-beam import from South Korea decreased by 78.7% to 35,427 tonnes in fiscal 2006 compared with fiscal 2005. On the other hand, the import from China expanded to 83,132 tonnes or 4.4 times as much as fiscal 2005.