South Korea's ferrous scrap imports plunged in May '15

SEOUL (Scrap Monster): As per the most recent data, the ferrous scrap imports by South Korea during the month of May this year dropped sharply over the previous year. Also, the scrap imports by the country during the initial five-month period declined when compared with the imports during the corresponding period a year ago.

The country’s total scrap imports during May this year amounted to 464,391 tons. The imports were down 15% when compared with the previous month. South Korean scrap imports had totaled 546,129 tons during April this year.

During May ‘15, Japan was the largest scrap exporter to Korea. The scrap imports from Japan totaled 296,593 tons, accounting for nearly 64% of the country’s total scrap imports. The scrap imports from Japan increased marginally by 6.56% month-on-month. The second largest exporter of scrap to South Korea was the USA. The scrap imports by the country from the USA totaled 61,353 tons, dropping to almost half when compared with the previous month imports. In third place was Russia with 55,078 tons. The other major exporters of ferrous scrap to South Korea during May this year were Slovenia (7,345 tons), Netherlands (6,367 tons) and Puerto Rico (4,171 tons).

The cumulative scrap imports by South Korea during the initial five-month period during the year totaled 2.207 million tons, 40.4% lesser when compared with the imports during the corresponding five-month period in 2014. The country had imported 3.701 million tons of ferrous scrap during January to May in 2014. The primary exporters of iron ore to South Korea during Jan-May ’15 were Japan (1.669 million tons, 45.1% share), USA (870,712 tons, 23.5% share) and Russia (388,924 tons, 10.5% share).