Japanese Iron Ore and Coal Imports Fall

Coal

Japanese iron ore imports fell to their lowest level since December 2012 in May at 9.6 Mt, down 14% year-on-year, according to provisional trade data from the Japanese Ministry of Finance. Despite this, iron ore imports for the period January-May were down only 3% year-on-year at 54.2 Mt. Meanwhile, Japanese coal imports fell to a near six year low of 12.3 Mt in May, down 8% year-on-year, while there was a small drop, of 1%, in steel exports to a three-month low of 3.5Mt.