South Korea: Major special steel mills increase scrap purchases in CY'21

Major South Korean steelmakers recorded scrap purchases at 22.06 million tonnes (mn t) in CY'21, as per a SteelDaily report. Iron scrap (both domestic and imported) purchases grew by 12% compared to the previous year.

Notably, scrap purchases by special steel manufacturers like POSCO and SeAH Besteel surged by 67% on a yearly basis. Domestic scrap purchases by these mills increased by 57% to 35.7 mn t while imports (scrap) spurted by 126% to 95 mn t in CY'21 amid increased demand for steel.

In CY'20, steel production had seen a drop amidst the Covid-19 outbreak. However, in CY'21, all steel mills resumed operations at almost full capacity, boosting their scrap consumption.

In contrast, scrap procurement by major steelmakers like Hyundai Steel and Dongkuk Steel remained at largely similar levels as the preceding year. Scrap imports by Hyundai Steel fell by 9% y-o-y in CY'21.