South Korea: Heavy plates production dips, sales up marignally in CY'21

South Korea's annual production of heavy plates dropped marginally by 1% to 8.89 mnt in CY'21 as against 9.02 mnt in the corresponding period last year. In Dec'21, the same dropped by 4% to 779,864 t compared to 814,862 t a month ago.

The production volumes of heavy plates fell due to soaring costs of steel-making raw materials and an uptick in hot rolling production prices.

Sales

Total sales of heavy plates aggregated to 8.92 mnt in CY'21, up marginally by 1% as compared to 8.86 mnt in CY'20. Out of which, domestic sales accounted for 6.93 mnt (up 8% y-o-y) while exports dropped by almost 24% y-o-y to 1.98 mnt in CY'21.

In Dec'21, total sales of heavy plates saw 5% m-o-m declined to 751,420 t against 791,551 t in November. Domestic sales stood at 602,789 t while exports totalled 148,631 t during the month.

Demand-supply mismatch: A decrease in production, imports and exports have resulted in shortage of heavy plates. Demand was still higher in the domestic market which created an imbalance between demand and supply.

"The expectations of increase in heavy plate demand for shipbuilding have risen since the first half of CY'22 as orders for container ships with short construction periods increased towards the end of CY'21", an industry insider said.

Outlook

Demand is likely to increase in CY'22 on the back of increased shipbuilding activities. Both production and sales of heavy plates are expected to rise y-o-y in CY'22.

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