SEOUL: South Korea’s imports of steel products from China grew in March from a year earlier, accounting for over 60 percent of its total demand, industry data showed Monday. Steel imports from China totaled around 1.29 million tons in March, up 6.7 percent from year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Iron & Steel Association.
The amount represented 63.3 percent of the country’s total steel imports of 2.03 million tons in March. In particular, steel reinforcement imports from China spiked nearly 150 percent on-year last month to around 140,000 tons, the data showed.
The rise is attributed to local builders pushing to stock up on the key construction material ahead of an expected increase in construction. The latest data comes amid worries that low-priced steel materials imported from China could hurt domestic steel-making companies.
