SEOUL: As per the most recent data, the ferrous scrap imports by Korea during the month of February 2016 dropped slightly the previous year. Also, imports inched lower slightly when matched with the previous month. It is the fourth consecutive month that the steel scrap imports by the country have totaled less than 400,000 tons.
The country’s total scrap imports during February this year amounted to 364,000 tons. The imports were down sharply by 21.1% when compared with the same month a year ago. Korean scrap imports had totaled 461,000 tons during February 2015. Also, scrap imports during Feb ’16 were down modestly by nearly 8.1% when compared with the imports of 397,000 tons during January this year.
During Feb ‘16, Japan was the largest scrap exporter to Korea. The scrap imports from Japan totaled 278,000 tons, accounting for nearly 76.3% of the country’s total scrap imports. The scrap imports from Japan during the month were up by 13.8% year-on-year.
The second largest exporter of scrap to Korea in Feb ‘16 was Russia. The scrap imports by the country from Russia totaled 41,000 tons, sharply down by 26.6% compared with February 2015. The top two scrap exporters to Korea accounted for more than 87% of the total imports by the country during the month. In third place was the US. The Korean scrap steel imports from the US totaled 10,000 tons, falling heavily by 89% when compared with the imports during February last year.
