South Korea, a major ferrous scrap buyer in southeast Asia region, imported 4.42 million tonnes (mnt) in Calendar Year 2022 (CY22). The imports were mostly stable y-o-y as compared to 4.47 mnt imported in CY21.
Similarly, South Korea imported 0.29 mnt in December 2022 as against 0.31 mnt in November. Imports registered a fall of 6% m-o-m, as per Customs data maintained with SteelMint.
Country-wise scrap imports-
- Imports from Japan fall by 10%: Japan, one of the prominent scrap suppliers to South Korea, supplied just 223,520 tonnes (t) of the scrap in December 2022 as compared to 247,735t in November. The volumes decreased by 10% m-o-m. Whereas, imports from Japan dropped significantly by nearly 45% y-o-y to just 1.25 mnt in CY22.
- Imports from Australia increase: South Korea’s scrap import volumes from Australia recovered drastically by 2416% to 26,998 t in December as against 1,073 t in November.
- Imports from the US up: Total scrap imported from the US rose significantly by 32% m-o-m at 21,278 t in December as against 16,172 t in the previous month.
Increased billets imports drag down scrap imports
The key reason behind the decline in scrap imports was a sharp rise in billets imports by 80% m-o-m in November. South Korea’s steel billets imports improved significantly to 125,949 t in November as compared to 69,985 t in October.
Interestingly, Japan was the largest billets exporter to South Korea at 105,533 t in November. However, scrap exports from Japan to the latter fell in the month.
It may be noted here that South Korea’s crude steel production rose by 12% in October compared to the previous month.
Outlook
Japanese ferrous scrap prices are expected to increase in the near-term which may affect purchasing from domestic steelmakers. Hence, steel producers are likely to source materials from other origins at tradable prices.
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