South Korea’s hot-rolled wide steel strip prices fell marginally by 2% y-o-y to 2.08 million tonnes (mnt) in January-July, 2022 against 2.13 mnt in the same period last year. Slowdown in exports was majorly due to logistics issues caused by the spread of COVID-19 pandemic and the drop in Chinese steel prices in Q2CY’22.
HR wide steel strip exports dropped 8% m-o-m to 281,399 tonnes (t) in July compared with 307,145 t a month ago. Exports fell marginally by 1% y-o-y as against 283,922 t in July, 2021, as per data released by the Korea Steel Association.
Logistics issues in the domestic and overseas markets, global economic downturn and falling global steel prices impacted export volumes during the period.
Country-wise exports
During the January-July period, export volumes to Italy rose sharply y-o-y by 52.4% to 225,246 t, while shipments to Vietnam rose by 29% to 209,848 t. Shipments to India rose by 11.9% to 367,004 t.
Imports fall m-o-m in July
South Korea’s HR wide steel strip imports stood at 243,686 t in July, down 21% compared with 308,537 t in June. Import volumes dropped 19% y-o-y as against 302,666 t in July. The delay in recovery of domestic demand and summer season in China led to the decline in imports to South Korea.
However, imports increased by 23% y-o-y to 1.76 mnt in January-July, 2022, compared with 1.44 mnt in the same period last year.
Country-wise imports
Imports from Japan and China increased by 22% and 10.2% to 948,412 t and 698,841 t, respectively, during January-July.
Outlook
Market participants opine that imports will remain weak in Q3 due to fall in prices of Chinese hot-rolled products. However, it is expected that imports will resume towards end-September because of low inventory levels with end-users and the slowdown in impact of falling global steel prices.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Steel Daily and SteelMint.
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