According to the foreign trade statistics (preliminary) for March 2009 announced April 22 by the Japanese Ministry of Finance, iron ore imports into the country were 5.858 million tons (Mt), an approximately 50% decrease from the same period last year. As a result iron ore imports (also on a preliminary basis) during fiscal 2008 totaled 128.499 Mt, a drop of 12.232 Mt or 8.7% from the previous fiscal year. The drops in particular during the January to March quarter were as large as 34.5%, compared with the same period of a year earlier.
Imports by value in March amounted to 60,579 million yen, with average unit price resulting in 10,341 yen per ton. Imports by value in fiscal 2008 surpassed one trillion yen for two consecutive years at 1,330,145 million yen. Annual average import price set the first 10,000-yen mark at 10,355 yen. For fiscal 2007 the unitary import price was 7,610 yen per ton. |
