Japan exported 42.09 million tonnes of steel products last year, which is 3.1% less than in 2013, according to the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF). Nonetheless, the country managed to increase the nominal value of its exports in Yen terms, thanks to a falling exchange rate, Kallanish notes.

The slowdown in export volumes came as Japan struggled to compete abroad, with a wave of commodity steel also entering Japan's traditional export markets. While Japanese mills were able to boost exports to captive downstream re-rolling and processing firms, they struggled to compete with cheap Chinese material on the spot markets, Kallanish notes.

The strong US economy allowed Japan to boost its steel exports to the US by 8.6% over 2014 to 2.56mt. Japan also managed a marginal 0.04% increase in exports to Thailand, totalling 5.6mt, because there are several Japanese-owned steel re-rollers. Exports to other major destinations all fell.

The sharp drop in the value of the Japanese Yen allowed the value of steel exports to increase despite a fall in volumes and in US dollar values. In 2014, Japan exported Yen 4.26 trillion compared to Yen 4.09 trillion the previous year. In US dollar terms, the value of exports fell to $40.44 billion from $42.14bn in 2013. Average dollar prices fell 0.93% to $960.87/t, while Yen prices increased 7.49% to Yen 101,120.79/t.