South Korea: Hot-rolled steel products imports surge over 30%, y-o-y, in H1CY'22

South Korea's imports of hot-rolled (HR) products stood at 1.5 million tonnes (mnt) in January-June, 2022 (H1CY'22), despite slow demand in the country. Imports surged higher by 34% compared with the year-ago period.

Alongside competitive offers from exporting countries, supply disruption due to facility repairs and elevated domestic prices resulted in higher imports of HR products in H1.

In H1CY’22, imports of Japanese hot-rolled wide strip (HR strip) stood at 809,810 t (53% of total imports), up 33.7% from the same period last year. Volumes from China stood around 593,965 t in H1CY'22, up by 17.3% y-o-y.

China’s HRC (SS400) export offers have fallen below $650/t CFR levels for September shipments and the secondary mills have reached at $590/t levels. Similarly, Japan’s HRC export offers are at mid-$600/t levels for August sales. This has supported the increase in inflow of imported HR products into South Korea.

Mills wary of imports
South Korean mills are getting concerned about the surge in inflow of imported goods despite a slow demand scenario. They anticipate that this is going to weigh on their sales volumes.

Domestic supplies may be under pressure
Industry participants opine that supplies from the domestic mills might not get a boost as demand continues to remain slow. Another bone of contention is the cost-competitive imported products.

“Domestic supplies might not increase rapidly in the near term despite expectations of decline in prices. However, concerns are rife about imports increasing sharply if the demand for HR products continues to stagnate, and prices hit the bottom,” said market participants in a statement. Therefore, mills wouldn't have a choice but to strengthen montioring of HR imports.

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