South Korea: POSCO, Hyundai Steel plates sales decline y-o-y on lower exports

Major South Korean mills, POSCO and Hyundai Steel, reported a y-o-y decline in sales volume of steel plates in CY'21 amidst a sharp decline in exports, as per a SteelDaily report.

Both the companies recorded total plates sales at 11.42 million tonnes (mn t) in CY'21, a decrease of 8.2% against the corresponding period last year (CPLY). Of this, domestic sales stood at 7.58 mn t, up 2.5% y-o-y, while exports plunged 24% y-o-y to 3.84 mn t leading to a decline in overall sales volume.

Plates sales in Dec'21 stood at 0.97 mn t, down 3% m-o-m and 6.3% y-o-y.

Decline in exports
Domestic mills are increasingly burdened with supply of hot-rolling products due to slow global economic recovery amidst resurgence of Covid-19, reduced imports, suspension of operations at Hyundai Steel's plants and increased domestic sales. All these contributed to lower exports in CY'21.

The share of exports in the total sales was at 33.6% last year, down 6.9% from CY'20.

Decrease in production
Plates production fell by 8.4% y-o-y to 11.42 mn t in CY'21 due to increased consumption by mills.

In Dec'21, production rose marginally by 1% m-o-m to 1.03 mn t but dropped by 4.3% y-o-y.

Outlook
Production and sales volume of plates in CY'22 may decrease y-o-y due to uncertainty on imports and the effect of POSCO's Gwangyang No. 4 blast furnace renovation plans.