South Korea: Scrap arrivals at major ports fall w-o-w

South Korea, one of the major scrap buying countries in the world, saw a sharp fall in scrap arrivals at its major ports, as per SteelDaily reports. The volumes were recorded at 80,300 tonnes (t) this week. Continuous strike and higher prices of scrap resulted in a drop in scrap arrivals.

Mill-wise imports-

• Hyundai Steel: The steel giant imported a total of 7,000 t this week – 3,000 t for Incheon works and 4,000 t for the Dangjin factory. These were the lowest weekly volumes since 2019. In addition, Hyundai Steel also imported 9,601 t of pig iron for Pohang.
• POSCO: POSCO has recorded arrivals of 8,000 t and 4,000 t of scrap for its Gwangyang and Pohang works.
• Dongkuk Steel: Dongkuk Steel reported a total of 28,300 t of scrap arrival at Incheon Port only. Although the volumes were the highest among all, these decreased somewhat from last week. Dongkuk Steel has never reported a volume of less than 10,000 t in CY22.
• Others: 12,500 t of scrap arrived at Gunsan Port for SeAH Besteel and 9,000 t for Korea Steel at Masan Port. 9,000 t for YK Steel and 4,500 t for Daehan Steel entered Busan Port.

Market update-

• Major mills cut scrap prices by $15/t: South Korean steel mills cut their scrap buy prices by up to KRW 20,000/t ($15/t), effective from 30 November. POSCO Steel lowered prices of all grades for Gwangyang and Pohang works. Similarly, SeAH Besteel also cut scrap prices for all grades. However, weight products were cut by KRW 10,000/t ($8/t).
• Limited control over inventory warehousing: In Busan and South Gyeongsang provinces, finished and semi-finished steel producers are progressively loosening control over scrap inventory storage due to time limitations. Many steel mills have changed their warehouse open time to limited hours based on standard entrance on the main gate.

Note: This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between SteelDaily and SteelMint.