South Korean steel makers including POSCO are closely monitoring imports of hot-rolled (HR) products especially from Japan due to the recent spike in share of imported goods into the country. For instance, the country’s HR wide steel strip imports were recorded at 1.76 mnt during January-July period, up 22.8% against the same period last year.
As order books with Japanese blast furnace (BF) manufacturers have been declining in the domestic market, they are stepping up their exports. Japanese BF mills are trying to strengthen order books by securing low priced urgent orders. Offers from Japan are lower compared to Chinese mills’ offers.
Imported HRC offers from Japan have fallen to $580/t FOB levels for September shipments. Notably, JFE Steel is also offering around these levels. This in turn led to increase in imports of Japanese HR products into South Korea, causing disruptions in the market, thereby, impacting its domestic demand.
At a time when South Korean steel mills are planning to undertake scheduled repairs at their facilities and make adjustments in supply side to control inflation and overcome sluggish steel demand in the market, the increase in imported goods have worried the market players.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Steel Daily and SteelMint.
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