Japan Iron Ore Import Increases by 3.8% in F2006

Japanese iron ore import increased to 135.29 million tonnes in fiscal 2006 ended March 2007, up by 3.8% from fiscal 2005, according to Ministry of Finance. Japanese coking coal import increased by 7.1% to 32.95 million tonnes in fiscal 2006 from fiscal 2005. Steel material import increased when Japanese integrated steel makers expanded their production. On the other hand, Japanese cokes import decreased by 27.8% to 1.81 million tonnes because domestic integrated steels shifted their cokes procurement from import to domestic purchasing.The import unit price of iron ore rose to CIF 6,503 yen per tonne in fiscal 2006, up by 23.3% from fiscal 2005 due to upsurge of long-contract price. The import unit price decreased by 2.1% to 14,089 yen per tonne for coking coal and downed by 9.1% to 22,769 yen per tonne for cokes.Total amount of Japanese iron ore import increased to 879.7 billion yen in fiscal 2006, up by 192.7 billion yen or 28.1% from fiscal 2005. The total import of coking coal increased by 4.9% or 21.5 billion yen to 464.2 billion yen while cokes decreased by 34.4% or 21.5 billion yen to 41.1billion yen.