Korea’s steel scrap import boosted to date compared with the last year, on major import sources increased exports to Korea, at a fairly rising pace. According to Korea Iron and Steel Association, ferrous scrap imports by March this year added by 19.6 percent year on year totaling 1,908,288 metric tons. Import from the major sources except Russia marked increases for instance taking place from Japan and the United States. Japanese steel scrap rose 7.6 percent to 1,193,521 metric tons, while those shipped by the United States toward Korea posted a surprising 193.1 percent from a year ago, totaling 415,865 metric tons each. On the other hand, import from Russia remained unchanged a year ago, staying at around 167,915 metric tons. The import from the others cut by 25.7 percent to 131,000 tons on the contrary.
The increase of steel scrap imports was largely attributable to the uneasy supply and demand status surrounded around the Korean scrap market, while the softer foreign exchange rate contributed to as well.
The scrap industry experts said that Korea’s scrap inbound from overseas maintained strength since the start of the year, with imports from Japan rose by February, and those from the US rising steeply. The import trends will be totally depending upon the change of the Korean market conditions, they added.
Meanwhile, Korea’s steel scrap import in March alone jumped 287 percent from the same month last year, totaling 632,633 metric tons. By source, all the countries except Japan increased their scrap export to Korea, while the US materials ballooned highly as much as 2,339.3 percent and import form Russia climbed 13.0 percent to 44,945 metric tons respectively. conversely, import from Japan dived 27.8percent to 279,037 metric tons.
Source: Steel&Metal News |
