South Korea: Scrap iron arrivals rise w-o-w at major ports

• Imports help offset slow domestic scrap generation
• Domestic supply to rise post construction sector recovery

SteelDaily: South Korea’s major ports recorded around 57,650 tonnes (t) of imported scrap iron arrivals in the second week of July, up by 5,650 t from 522,000 t in the last week. According to SteelDaily, the volume includes shipments that had either arrived or were en route to key ports such as Incheon, Gunsan, Gwangyang, and Jinhae.

This week, scrap shipments were concentrated at the Gwangyang, Gunsan, and Incheon ports.

Port-wise arrivals

• Incheon: Incheon is set to receive around 15,300 t of Japanese-origin scrap. H2 scrap led the volume at 10,000 t, followed by 3,300 t of H12/HS and 2,000 t of other general scrap.
• Gwangyang: A significant volume of general scrap bound for POSCO – totalling 23,200 t – is expected to arrive. The cargoes are split into multiple consignments, mostly ranging within 2,000-3,000 t, with some smaller lots of around 1,200 t also confirmed.
• Gunsan: Approximately 16,150 t of scrap were expected.
• Jinhae: Smaller volumes of 3,000 t have been confirmed.

In contrast, no arrivals were noted at other major ports such as Dangjin, Masan, Busan, and Pohang during the same period.

Market update

The domestic steel scrap market continued to witness a slow recovery in generation. As a result, the shortfall is being partially offset by increased import volumes.

A market participant observed, “Imports are helping ease the pressure for now, but ultimately, scrap supply will only rise meaningfully when the construction sector starts to recover.”

Note: This article has been published in accordance with a content exchange agreement between SteelDaily and BigMint.