Korea’s scrap steel imports plunged to 3-month lows in July

SEOUL (Scrap Monster): The official statistics released by the Korean administration suggests huge drop in scrap steel import volume by the country during the month of July this year. The monthly imports dropped to less than 500,000 for the first time in three months.

As per statistics, the country’s scrap imports totaled 482,000 tons in July this year. This is down by 5.3% when matched with the prior month. The Korean scrap steel imports had totaled 509,000 tons during June this year. When compared with the previous year, July ’16 imports were down sharply by 13.7%. The country had imported around 560,000 tons of scrap steel during July 2015.

The key exporter of scrap to Korea during the month was Japan. The scrap steel imports from Japan totaled 289,000 tons, accounting for nearly 60% of total imports. The imports from Japan witnessed year-on-year decline of 9.6%. The Korean scrap imports from Russia totaled 90,000 tons during the month, dropping by over 12% when matched with July 2015. The scrap imports from the US too declined by 11.2% year-on-year to 60,000 tons during the month.

The country’s cumulative scrap imports during the initial seven-month period of the year totaled 3.298 million tons. The imports during the period were marginally down by 1.1% when matched with the corresponding period last year. The monthly imports have averaged at 471,000 tons during the year. The yearly imports are estimated to touch 5.65 million tons during 2016.

Scrap Imports-June ‘16

The data published by the Korean authorities suggests that the steel scrap imports by the country totaled 509,000 tons during June this year. This is significantly down by almost 11% year-on-year. The country’s scrap imports had totaled around 515,000 tons during June last year. However, the cumulative imports during initial six-month period of the year were up marginally by 1.4% over the previous year to total 2.816 million tons. The monthly imports averaged at nearly 470,000 tons.

The largest exporter of ferrous scrap to South Korea during June ’16 was Japan. The imports from Japan totaled 319,000 tons, accounting for 63% of the total imports by the country during the month. The imports from Japan dropped marginally by 0.2% from the previous year. Russia was the second largest import source during the month. South Korea’s ferrous scrap imports from Russia totaled 115,000 tons, accounting for 23% share of the country’s imports during the month. The imports from Russia climbed higher by 15.3% year-on-year. The scrap imports by the country from the US dropped sharply by nearly 80% over the year to total 13,000 tons during the month.

Scrap Imports-May ‘16

The scrap steel imports by Korea totaled 573,000 during the month of May this year. The monthly imports had posted the highest ever total since September 2015. The monthly imports surged higher by 23.4% year-on-year. When compared with the previous month, the imports had recorded an increase of 18.3%.

The primary exporter of scrap to Korea during the month was Japan. The scrap steel imports from Japan totaled 282,000 tons, accounting for nearly half of the total imports. The imports from Japan witnessed slight decline year-on-year. The Korean scrap imports from the US totaled 177,000 tons during the month. The scrap imports from the US rose dramatically by 187.8% over the previous year. Korea imported 84,000 tons of scrap steel from Russia. The imports from that country remained flat when matched with the previous year.