South Korea’s production of heavy steel plates was recorded at 2.24 million tonnes (mnt) in Q1CY’22, an increase of 3.5% compared to the year-ago period on rise in domestic sales volumes, according to the Korea Steel Association.
Meanwhile, monthly production of heavy plates in March was 70,856 t, down 3.1% month-on-month (m-o-m) but an increase of 0.9% year-on-year (y-o-y).
Sales
Along with production, sales too rose. Total sales of heavy plates in Q1 was 2.265 mnt, an increase of 3.6% compared with the same period last year.
Export sales fell 19.7% y-o-y to 476,641 t, while domestic demand surged 12.3% to 1.78 mnt, marking a y-o-y increase and leading to overall growth in sales.
Sales in March were assessed at 734,087 t, an increase of 2.2% m-o-m and 3.3% y-o-y.
Further, domestic demand decreased by 1.1% from the previous month to 566,897 t, but increased by 6.2% compared to the same month last year.
While demand for domestic shipbuilding is expanding, the expansion of domestic production has stalled owing to the renovation work going on at POSCO’s Gwangyang plant.
Outlook
It is predicted that increasing domestic sales, due to higher demand from the shipbuilding segment, will trigger a rise in production and sales of heavy plates in 2022.
Note: This insight has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between SteelMint and SteelDaily.
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