South Korea: Thick plates trade declines y-o-y in Aug'24

SteelDaily: South Korea's exports and imports of thick plates fell y-o-y in August 2024 compared to the same month last year, as per Korea Iron and Steel Association (KISA). Exports fell by 16% y-o-y to 127,060 tonnes (t), while imports dropped by 24.2% y-o-y to 116,616 t.

However, exports and imports showed a slight increase m-o-m in August compared to July. Exports rose by 2.3% m-o-m and imports by 5.2% m-o-m.

In terms of importing countries, in August, imports from China increased by 17,000 t m-o-m to 75,331 t, while imports from Japan fell by 16,000 t m-o-m to 36,203 t.

The average export price of thick plates has been on a downward trend for four consecutive months, falling from $800/t in May to $692/t in August. Import prices have also reached their lowest levels in three years, with Chinese thick plates averaging $640/t and Japanese thick plates averaging $714/t in August.

The cumulative export and import data from January to August revealed a widening negative margin. Exports through July totalled 944,048 t, a 9.5% y-o-y decline from the same period last year, while imports reached 1.28 million tonnes (mnt), a 4.4% decrease y-o-y. Chinese thick plates accounted for 753,482 t, an 8.6% increase y-o-y, while Japanese thick plates totalled 444,808 t, a 23.8% decline y-o-y.

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