Japan Sharply Increases I-Beam Exports

The latest statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance show that I-beam exports have grown significantly over the past period in 2015. According to the updated data, the country's export of I-beam amounted to 43 thousand tons in February, showing an increase of 27.1 percent compared to the previous month, when exports amounted to 34 thousand tons. And compared with a year earlier, exports increased by 2.3 times.

I-beam exports topped 40,000 tonnes for the first time in five months. Prior to that, exports crossed this line in September 2014. The export price averaged $ 643 per tonne FOB in February this year. Consolidated exports during the first two months of this year amounted to 77 thousand tons. Exports during this period increased 2.6 times compared with exports during the corresponding two-month period last year.

The largest Japanese export destination for I-beams was South Korea. Exports to South Korea reached 9,400 tons, which is more than one fifth of the country's total exports. Taiwan was the second largest importer of Japanese I-beams. The country imported 4,400 tons from Japan during February this year. Other key importers during the month were Singapore (4100 tons), Mexico (3200 tons) and Indonesia (2300 tons).

On the other hand, the country's I-beam imports rose 50.4 percent during the month to 5,400 tons. China accounted for almost all of Japan's imports of these products this month. At the same time, Japan's total I-beam imports in January-February this year fell sharply by almost 60 percent to 8,900 tons.