South Korea’s heavy plate import volumes rose by 55% m-o-m to 164,324 tonnes (t) in November 2022 as against 105,853 t in the preceding month.
During the period January-November, 2022 import volumes increased by 58.6% y-o-y to 1,562,397 t as against 9,84,993 t in the same period last year.
Domestic supply disruptions and lower import prices compared to domestic have resulted in a sharp rise in imports during the period.
Country-wise imports
In the month of November, Chinese imports were at 84,047 t, up 70.4% compared to the same month a year ago. However, Japanese imports were down by 18.7% to 79,782 t.
China’s share in total imports in January-November, 2022 was 5,98,130 t, up 91.6% and that of Japan was at 9,43,449 t, up 43.9% from the same period last year.
South Korea exports decline m-o-m
South Korea’s heavy plate exports registered a decline of 16% m-o-m to 76,404 t in November 2022 as against 90,997 t a month ago, the lowest in 2022. These were also, down by 32% from the same month last year.
Export volumes have dropped significantly under the influence of the strike at Hyundai Steel’s Dangjin plants. In addition, the flood damage which caused disruptions at POSCO’s Pohang plant was repaired but made it difficult to expand exports.
Exports plunged in November but in January -November, 2022, these increased 7.2% to 12,86,211 t compared to 11,99,891 t in the same period last year.
Country-wise exports
Heavy plate exports in November to China were down by 22% to 19,688 t and to Japan, these dropped by 28.6% to 15,804 t compared to November 2021.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between SteelDaily and SteelMint.
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