Steel imports from China Shoot Up in January-May

摘要

Koreas steel import trend by source is changing. Imports of Chinese steel, which declined last year, posted a sharp rise this year, whereas those of Japanese steel are in stagnation completely unlike a jump in 2002, according to the recent statistics by the Korea Iron & Steel Association on the Koreas steel imports from January through May this year. Taking a close look at those figures, it is possible to figure out the future import trend as well. The aggregate imports of Chinese steel in the January-March period skyrocketed 116.4 percent from a year ago to 1,218,000 tons. With such a high jump in imports from China that took a 12.0 percent portion of the total steel import until May, China has become the second-largest import source for Korea, outpacing the U.S. and the CIS.