Steel demand in Korea expected to fall
South
Korea's demand for steel is forecasted to decrease by 0.6% in the second half of the year compared to previous year to 29.9 million tons due to the economic stagnation.
The
Korea Iron & Steel Association pointed out that the country's steel imports are expected to amount 7.41 million tons in the mentioned period, indicating a drop of 5.3% compared to the same period of last year. This situation is attributed to the decline in
construction sector.
Under these circumstances, the steel
production will also reduce to 23.4 million tons in the same six-month period with a 0.4% decrease.
For the whole year, steel demand is predicted to reach 60.8 million tons, revealing an increase of 2.2% compared to 2003 and
production will rise by 1.6% to 47 million tons.