South Korea: Ferrous scrap inventory declines for two consecutive weeks amid production cuts

• Inventories drop in central region, grows in south
  
  
• Mills scale back production
  
  

SteelDaily: This week, the combined ferrous scrap inventory of eight major South Korean steel mills witnessed a drop for two consecutive weeks, with a significant drop observed in the metropolitan area. The decline driven as a result of large steel mills scaling back production.

Stocks dropped by 2.5%, or more than 20,000 tonnes (t), reaching 783,000 t compared to the previous week. Returning to the 700,000 t level within two weeks.

Inventory decreased in the central region, while it increased in the southern region. The drop was especially noticeable in the central region, where large steel mills are located, and it is believed that these mills quickly implemented production cuts, which contributed to the inventory reduction.

Region-wise inventory

Central region: In the central region, scrap inventory dropped by 11.3% w-o-w, reaching 414,000 t.

In terms of companies, Hyundai Steel's Incheon and Hwanyoung plants saw w-o-w inventory decreases of 17.8% and 5.1%, respectively, while Dongkuk Steel saw little change, but its inventory, which has been increasing since late August, is still at a high point.

Southern region: In the southern region, inventory levels stood at 369,000 t, up by 9.5% w-o-w. Hyundai Steel's Pohang plant experienced a 12% w-o-w rise in inventory levels, while POSCO's inventory increased by 6.9% w-o-w.

The combined inventories of Daehan Steel and YK Steel increased by 10.9% w-o-w, while Korea Iron and Steel's inventory fell by 14.8% compared to the previous week.

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