According to the latest trade statistics released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance's Customs Department, Japan's exports of ferrous scrap (primarily scrap steel) in December 2025 amounted to 695,264 tons, a decrease of 4.4% compared to 727,542 tons in the same period of 2024.

In terms of export value, the decline is even more pronounced. The total export value for the month was 77.1 billion yen, a significant year-on-year decrease of 17.9%. This indicates that alongside the slight drop in export volume, the unit export price also saw a notable decline.

The performance of major export markets showed a diverging trend:

China, as the largest export destination, received 32.8 billion yen worth of Japanese ferrous scrap that month, but the value fell by 26.2% year-on-year.

The Vietnamese market saw rapid growth, with export value reaching 14.4 billion yen, a sharp increase of 130.4% year-on-year, becoming a highlight.

Export value to the South Korean market was 12.8 billion yen, down 18% year-on-year.

Looking at the full-year data for 2025, Japan's total ferrous scrap exports reached 4,584,990 tons, far exceeding the 1,651,370 tons for the entire year of 2024. Ferrous scrap is an important renewable raw material for the steel industry, and fluctuations in its monthly export data directly reflect changes in demand and procurement dynamics in major steel-producing markets in the Asia-Pacific region. The contraction in exports to China and the surge in exports to Vietnam may be linked to the phased supply-demand adjustments in the steel industries of the two countries.