Despite the recent shrinkage of demand in markets at home and abroad, major South Korean producers of cold rolled steel sheets are enjoying brisk operation of their facilities, with capacity utilization rates almost reaching 100 percent.
According to a recent survey by the Korea Metal Journal on three major South Korean producers of cold rolled steel sheets - Dongbu Steel, Union Steel and Hyundai Hysco- the capacity utilization rates of their electrolytic galvanizing lines (EGL) have recently
declined, but those of their continuous galvanizing lines (CGL) have been found to operating close to full capacity.
However, the three steel producers have large inventories of cold rolled steel sheets. Union Steel has over 70,000 mt in stock, even though its usual maximum inventory level is about 60,000 mt. Hyundai Hysco's current cold rolled sheet inventory levels are at around 165,000 mt, in preparation for the producer's large-scale facility repair works slated for next year.