The production of iron ores for 1915 was 390,270 tons, the production of iron and steel for 1914 was 504,564 tons and for 1915 to 1916 it was 584,775 tons. Total imports of iron and steel, 1914 to 1915, amounted to 698,635 tons, and 1915 to 1916, to 424,597 tons. =Japan and Korea.=--The iron ore used in Japanese furnaces is obtained in part from domestic mines and in part from Korean, Manchurian, and Chinese mines. The iron ore produced in Japan comes mainly from the Kamaishi group of deposits in the northern part of the island of Honshu. These mines yield more than one-half of the total annual production of iron ore in Japan, the remainder coming mainly from the Sennin and Kuriki mines, also in the northern part of Honshu; the Abuta and other bog ore deposits in Hokkaido, and the black sand deposits of Chugoku, in southern Honshu. The Kamaishi, Sennin, and Kuriki deposits consist of magnetite and hematite associated with sedimentary rocks near igneous intrusions. The iron-ore reserves of Japan are estimated by Inouye[46] at about 60 million tons. [46] INOUYE, K.: “Iron-Ore Resources of the World,” Stockholm, 1910. The Korean iron ores used in Japan have come mainly from the surficial limonite deposits of Hoang-hai-do, about 100 miles northwest of Seoul, which have been actively mined for 10 years or more. Recently Japanese-controlled blast furnaces have been established at Ken-ji-pho, Korea, which use ore from the Ken-ji-pho iron mine, situated in the same region as the Hoang-hai-do mines. The pig iron produced by this plant is sent to Japan for use in Japanese steel plants. Chinese iron ore used in Japan has been obtained from the Tayeh mines of Hupeh Province. A part of the ore from these mines goes directly to Japan, and a part goes to the Han-Yang furnaces, near Hankow, to be manufactured into pig-iron and steel products which also go to Japan. The Han-Yeh-Ping Iron & Steel Co., which owns both the Tayeh mines and the Han-Yang furnaces, is a Chinese concern, the capital of which is at present controlled largely by Japanese banking firms. Of considerable interest at the present time is the development by Japanese of the Chin-ling-chen iron-ore deposits on the peninsula of Kiaochow, Shantung Province. These deposits were being exploited by the Germans just before the war and have recently been taken over by the Japanese, who are continuing development.