South Korea, one of the world’s largest importers and exporters of stainless steel, has released its November 2022 trade figures. The country’s imports of stainless steel increased two fold m-o-m; on the other hand, a marginal fall in exports was noticed in November, as per customs data.
November imports rise sharply
In November, the total volume of imported finished flat stainless steel was 86,929 t, up 144% from 35,577 t in October. In contrast, during the January-November 2022 period, the total volume was recorded at 529,982, a y-o-y decrease of 13% as against the same period last year.
According to SteelMint data, China was the largest exporter with 46,491 t, followed by Vietnam and indonesia with 14,092 t and 8,490 t, respectively.
Imports may have increased as a result of reduced production at POSCO Pohang Steel Works. The company intends to restart operations at the second stainless steel plant at the end of December, and the plating plant and No. 1 stainless steel cold rolling plant will also restart operations in January 2023 to complete the restoration plan for the Pohang works. It was recently announced that the second hot-rolling plant had been restarted; it took approximately 100 days to recover from the flood damage on September 6.
Exports fall
The total volume of exported finished flat stainless steel was 33,712 t in November, a 3% decrease from 34,725 t in October. Similarly, the total volume was 733,595 during the January-November 2022, down 28% from the same period last year.
According to SteelMint data, China was the largest importer in November with 11,168 t, followed by Thailand and Vietnam, with 5,861 t and 3,065 t, respectively.
Leave a Reply