South Korea: Heavy plate production down 5% m-o-m in April

South Korea's heavy plates production stood at 665,103 t in April 2022, down 5% compared to 700,856 t in the previous month. The same fell 8% y-o-y against 721,875 t in April 2021.

However, production volumes inched up by 1% to 2.91 mnt in Q1CY22 from 2.89 mnt in the same period last year.

Sales down m-o-m in April

Heavy plate sales dropped 6% m-o-m to 688,406 t in April 2022, against 734,087 t in March 2022. On an annualised basis, the same registered a decline of 9% from 755,930 t in April 2021.

Exports accounted for 155,911 t (down 6% m-o-m) out of the total sales in April 2022. In similar lines, exports fell 7% y-o-y against 168,009 t in April 2021.

In April 2022, domestic sales saw a decline of 6% m-o-m to 532,495 t, and down by 9% on y-o-y basis from 587,921 t in April 2021.

Total sales remained largely flat at 2.95 mnt in Q1CY22, compared with 2.94 mnt in the same period a year ago. During the same period, domestic sales were recorded at 2.32 mnt (up 6%) while exports at 0.63 mnt (down 17%) against the same quarter of the previous year.

Imports surge y-o-y in April

Imports registered a whooping rise of 113% y-o-y to 141,495 t in April 2022, against 66,351 t in the same period last year.

Industry insiders expect that demand from shipbuilding will continue to remain stable but heavy plate production and sales may remain impacted for some time due to the fall in the price of imported goods mainly from China, the delay in recovery of domestic demand such as construction, and the influence of the off-season.

Note: This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Steeldaily and SteelMint.