South Korea: Ferrous scrap imports down by 9% amid high billet imports in Nov'22

South Korea, a major ferrous scrap buyer in South East Asia region, imported 0.31 million tonnes (mnt) in November 2022 as against 0.34 mnt in October. Imports registered a fall of 9% m-o-m, as per customs data maintained with SteelMint.

Similarly, imports decreased by 14% y-o-y compared to 0.36 mnt in November 2021. Meanwhile, import volumes in January-November this year stood at 4.13 mnt, a slight improvement of 2% y-o-y.

Country-wise scrap imports-

• Imports from Japan fall by 15%: Japan - one of the prominent scrap suppliers to South Korea - supplied just 247,735 t of the raw material in November as compared to 291,588 t in October. The volumes decreased by 15% m-o-m.
  
  
• Imports from USA slightly down: South Korea's scrap import volumes from USA were down by 9% to 16,172 t in November as against 17,814 in October.
  
  
• Imports from New Zealand spurt: Total scrap imported from New Zealand rose significantly by 2,457% m-o-m at 18,107 t in November as against 708 t in the previous month.

  Increased billets imports drag down scrap imports

  The key reason behind the decline in scrap imports was a sharp rise in billets imports by 80% m-o-m in November. South Korea's steel billets imports improved significantly to 125,949 tonnes (t) in November as compared to 69,985 t in October.

  Interestingly, Japan was the largest billets exporter to South Korea at 105,533 t in November. However, scrap exports from Japan to the latter fell in the month.
  It may be noted that South Korea's crude steel production rose by 12% in October compared to the previous month.
  
  

Outlook

Japanese ferrous scrap prices are expected to increase in the near term which may affect purchasing from domestic steelmakers. Hence, steel producers are likely to source materials from other origins at tradable prices.