South Korea: HR steel strip exports down, imports rise amid supply tightness

South Korea's hot-rolled (HR) wide steel strip exports stood at 0.89 million tonnes (mnt) in January-March, 2022, down by almost 3% against 0.91 mnt in the corresponding period last year.

The delay in recovery of the global economy and disruptions in logistics have had an impact. Exports to regions such as India, Japan and the US have declined y-o-y. However, exports to other regions - Italy, Indonesia and China - increase significantly in Q1.

Imports

During January-March, 2022, HR steel strip imports jumped 37% to 0.70 mnt in comparison with 0.51 mnt in the same period last year.

The supply crunch is also an outcome of POSCO's renovations plans, which have impacted domestic crude steel production and led to a sharp increase in imports.

Import volumes from Japan recorded a significant increase of 45% y-o-y to 418,719 t in Q1CY'22 (January-March, 2022). Increase in imports is primarily due to reduced supply in the domestic market.

Outlook

Market participants expect that supply of hot-rolled products in the domestic market will remain tight in the near term.

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