Japan Steel Export Rises by 13% in February

Japanese steel export increased by 13% to 2.865 million tonnes in February from a year earlier, announced by Ministry of Finance on Thursday. The export value increased by 28.5% to 321.374 billion yen. The steel import increased by 25.9% to 656,401 tonnes and the import value increased by 44.2% to 70.198 billion yen. The steel export volume to European Union increased by 119.6% in February from a year earlier. The export increased by 7.1% for USA and by 14.3% for Asian countries while the export to Russia decreased. The export value increased by 50.3% for EU and by 28.3% for Asia. The value increased by 9.8% for China while the value decreased for Russia.The steel import increased by 1.5% from EU and by 30.2% from Asia in February from a year earlier. The import from USA decreased by 10.1% and import from Middle East also decreased. The import from China jumped by 104.3%. The import value increased except from USA, value of which decreased by 17.8%. The value from China increased by 116.9%. Japanese total export value increased by 9.7% to 6.418 trillion yen in February from a year earlier due to higher export of automobile and steel. The import value increased by 10.1% to 5.438 trillion yen with higher nonferrous metals import. The export increased for 39 months in a row and the import increased for 36 months in a row. The net export increased by 7.7% to 979.6 billion yen increasing for the first time in 2 months.