South Korea’s imports of wire rods totaled 117,564 mt in October this year, indicating a drop of 20,000 mt from September, according to the Korea Iron and Steel Association (KOSA). In October, imported wire rods accounted for 41.5 percent of total wire rod supply in the domestic market, declining by 4.6 percentage points from September.
In the January-October period of the current year, South Korea’s total imports of wire rods amounted to 1,359,111 mt, constituting 43.6 percent of the total supply of wire rods in the domestic market. If the current trend of wire rod imports continues, the full-year total of imported wire rods will account for the largest share in the total wire rod supply in the domestic market since 2007. However, a lot of industry officials are forecasting that the imports of wire rods will start to decline from the middle of next year when South Korean steel giant POSCO will start up its wire rod mill No. 4. In particular, a significant drop is anticipated in imports of mild steel wire rods next year.