Japan Steel Export Hits Record in 1H

Japanese steel export increased by 11.1% to 19.841 million tonnes in January-June from same period of 2007, announced by Ministry of Finance on Thursday. The export value increased by 8.2% to 2.15 trillion yen. The volume and value was record since start of the statistics in 1979. The export increased for European Union and Asian countries while the export dropped for USA both in volume and value. The steel import decreased by 13.1% to 3.941 million tonnes while the import value increased by 5.1% to 534.036 billion yen. The import volume decreased from USA, EU and Asia while the value decreased from USA and EU. The export volume increased by 33.1% for EU and by 13.2% for Asia in the first 6 months from same period of 2007 while the export for USA decreased by 8.6%. The export increased by 7.5% for China and by 24.9% for Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The export value increased by 14% for EU and by 11.6% fro Asia while the value decreased by 8.3% for USA. The value for China decreased by 7.4%. The import volume decreased by 10.1% from USA, by 8.1% from EU and by 13.9% from Asia in the first 6 months from same period of 2007. The import from China decreased by 19.2%. The import value decreased by 4.5% from USA and by 11% from EU while the value from Asia increased by 0.9%. The value from China increased by 24.9% while the value dropped from ASEAN and Asian NIES. The export increased by 4.9% to 3.23 million tonnes in June from a year earlier. The value increased by 9% to 383.157 billion yen. The import increased by 13.5% 761,369 tonnes and by 31.3% to 117.665 billion yen.