South Korea: Heavy plate imports up, exports continue to plunge in Aug

The imports of heavy plates in Aug'21 stood at 129,34 tonnes (t), up 16.8% from the previous month. However, on an annual basis, exports declined by 14.1% compared to the year-ago period, as per Steel Daily.

Meanwhile, exports of heavy plates fell 8.21% m-o-m to 11,557 t in August but increased by 50.4% y-o-y compared to the same period last year.

Exports continued to decline while imports showed a rise sharply, but both exports and imports continued to decline sharply in Jan-Aug'21 as a whole. Total exports from Jan-Aug stood at 889.91 t, down 21% y-o-y while imports stood at 569,800 t, down 34.6% from the same period last year.

Exports to the United States, Taiwan and Thailand increased significantly, while exports to Japan, China, and Vietnam fell sharply, thereby, leading to a decline in overall exports.

In the case of imports, that from Japan only decreased slightly, whereas, imports from China plunged 60.8% compared to the same period of the previous year, leading to a decrease in overall imports.

The decrease in imports of heavy plates from China led to a decrease in overall imports, as the surge in imports in August also witnessed a decline in Chinese products owing to the increase in Japanese products.

The heavy plates industry anticipates that despite the increase in demand for domestic shipbuilding, the supply burden will most likely not be eased in the near term due to the difficulties of domestic manufacturers in expanding supply and the decrease in imports from China.