The production and sales of structural steel pipes in Jan-Nov’21 in South Korea dipped by 1.9% and 4.3% respectively on an annual basis. Despite aggressive inventory reduction efforts for December sales, both domestic demand and exports continued to falter, leading to a decrease in overall sales in Jan-Nov’21, as per Korea Steel Association’s data.
Production
The total production of structural steel pipes in Jan-Nov’21 was registered at 2.12 million tonnes (mn t), down nearly 2% y-o-y (y-o-y) compared to the same period of the previous year. The fall in production was largely owing to the decline in exports.
Meanwhile, the monthly production in Nov’21 was 0.184 mn t, marginally down by 0.2 % against Oct’21, and posted an increase of 4.4 % compared to Nov’20.
Domestic consumption and exports
In Jan-Nov’21, the domestic consumption of structural steel pipes increased by 1.2% y-o-y to 1.78 mn t while exports fell 27.7% to 0.30 mn t from the same period last year, thereby, leading to a decline in overall sales in the market.
The domestic consumption of structural steel pipes in Nov’21 was 0.15 mn t, up 3.2% on a monthly basis compared to Oct’21. Meanwhile, on an annual basis, the same declined by 12.9% in Nov’21.
On the other hand, exports stood at 24,510 tonnes in Nov’21, down 13.3 % m-o-m and 38.7% y-o-y.
Exports inched down by 4.3% y-o-y in Jan-Nov’21 to 2.08 mn t.
Sales
The total sales volume of structural steel pipes in Jan-Nov’21 was recorded at 2.08 mn t, edging down by 4.3% compared to the same period of the previous year.
Domestic sales increased slightly in CY’20, making up for the loss compared to the previous year, but exports seem to have affected overall sales as these significantly decreased due to the base effect of the surge in CY’20 and the impact of the Covid-19 containment measures.
However, the total sales amounted to 0.17 mn t in Nov’21, up 0.5 % compared to Oct’21, but sales plummeted by 17.8 % on an annual basis.
~Inputs from SteelDaily
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