Japanese ministry of finance announced that iron ore imports into the country were 5.858 million tonnes, an approximately 50% decrease from the same period of 2008.

As a result iron ore imports during fiscal 2008 totaled 128.499 million tonnes, a drop of 12.232 million tonnes 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 JPY 10,341 per tonne. Imports by value in fiscal 2008 surpassed JPY 1 trillion for two consecutive years at JPY 1,330,145 million. Annual average import price set the first JPY 10,000 mark at JPY 10,355. For fiscal 2007 the unitary import price was JPY 7,610 per tonnes.