South Korea: Steel mills’ scrap inventory slightly up w-o-w

The ferrous scrap inventory of eight key South Korean steelmakers rose 3% w-o-w on 14 March. The volumes were recorded at 883,000 tonnes (t). The peak season for scrap demand has arrived. However, inventories with steelmakers are not falling.

In three weeks, inventory jumped up by 22% compared to the same period in the previous year. In contrast, in previous years, mills were unable to meet demand during the busiest season.

Region-wise inventory status-

Central region inventory status: The central region’s steel producers have 552,000 t of scrap inventory in total. This is a 7.2% rise or a gain of 37,000 t from the previous week. The central region’s steelmakers accounted for the whole week’s increase in inventory.

1) Hyundai Steel:  Inventory growth at Hyundai Steel was significant. The inventory of Hyundai Steel climbed 9% from the previous week. In order to regulate supply, the company imposed inventory restrictions in Incheon and Dangjin. In spite of this, inventory remained high.

2) Dongkuk Steel:  The inventory of Dongkuk Steel inched down by 2%. It still had the highest inventory since the summer of last year, though. Moreover, the supply-demand situation was still loose. Jeonju and Hwan Steel were at the same level.

An official from a steelmaker in the central region said, “A lot of inventory is piling up regardless of grade, and we are restricting warehousing”.

Southern region’s inventory status: Southern steelmakers saw a slight decline in inventories. There were 306,000 t of steelmakers’ total inventory in the southern region, which is 13,000 t or 4% less than in the previous week.

POSCO: In particular, POSCO’s inventory decline was significant. The company’s inventory decreased by 6% from the previous week.

POSCO officials claimed that the HMR, which had been kept at a high level until the beginning of the year, appears to have been minimal in comparison to the previous week.

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