South Korea – the world’s third-largest ferrous scrap importer, saw a drop in scrap imports by 20% m-o-m to 0.28 mn t in Nov’20 as against 0.35 mn t in Oct’20, as per data recorded with SteelMint. Supply tightness and preference to domestic scrap on higher import offers have contributed to the drop in import volumes.
Shipments to South Korea from the US, however, increased by 24% m-o-m – Imports from USA have risen by 24% m-o-m and stood at 10,904 t in Nov’20 as compared to 8,784 t in Oct’20. Korean buyers preferred US bulk scrap due to its competitiveness vis-a-vis Japanese scrap despite delivery times being much longer. Year-end bullishness has contributed to buyers purchasing now to head-off potentially and increase prices.
Japan remained the largest scrap supplier to Korea at 0.20 mn t in Nov’20, (down by 26% m-o-m). SteelMint’s assessment for Japanese H2 scrap export stood at as against JPY 27,000/t ($260) FoB in Oct’20. JPY 27,165/t ($262) FoB in Sep’20.
Domestic automobile sales in Korea went up 5.8% to 171,228 vehicles, as per the country’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Sales of locally-produced cars saw a 5.8% growth to 142,158 units.
Quantity in mn t
Source: SteelMint stats & customs data
Leave a Reply