South Korean steelmakers' sales of special steel bars increased by 7.7 percent month on month in October this year, though earlier expectations had been for October sales to remain unchanged from September volumes.
Meanwhile, there has been criticism that domestic special steel bar producers have been busy achieving their sale goals amid severe sales competition with low-priced Chinese products, while not focusing so much on profitability.
In October, sales by the seven South Korean producers - SeAH Besteel, POSCO Specialty Steel, Hyundai Steel, Jinyang Ind., Dongil Ind., Dongil Steel and Kwangjin Steel - of special steel bars including S45C carbon steel bars, SCM alloy steel bars, tool steel bars and stainless steel bars totaled 213,268 mt.
In the given month, these producers' sales of special steel bars to domestic end-users and distributors reached 97,085 mt and 89,395 mt respectively, while they sold 26,788 mt in the overseas markets.
On company basis, in October SeAH Besteel sold the largest volume of 139,180 mt among the other producers, followed by Hyundai Steel with 29,491 mt, POSCO Specialty Steel with 17,224 mt, Dongil Ind. with 11,351 mt, Jinyang Ind. with 11,081 mt, Dongil Steel with 3,959 mt and Kwangjin Steel with 1,982 mt.
Meanwhile, imports of special steel bars to South Korea, which totaled 71,500 mt in September, declined to about 57,000 mt in October, influenced by exchange rate fluctuations.