BEIJING: Chinese flat aluminium product imports in South Korea in 2017 has highlighted worries among traders that aluminium flat products exported from China are being sold in the region as substitutes for P1020 aluminium ingots.
South Korean imports of aluminium plates, sheets and strips from China jumped 57.1% to 177,015 tonnes in 2017, the latest data from the Korea International Trade Association showed. In December only, imports from China grew 47.8% year on year to 13,278 tonnes. It is unclear how much of the imports are destined for use as ingots but market participants have noted that some of these products are produced by crudely processing ingots into aluminium products including plates and coils, and then exported as aluminium fabricated products for remelt. Some have also called such products “fake semis.” “Some coils have come into Korea in January and they are declared as coils.
