South Korea exported 25,413,000 mt of steel products in the January-October period of the current year, up 7.6 percent from a year ago, while its imports of steel products dropped 11.2 percent to 17,826,000 mt in the same comparison, resulting in net exports of 7,587,000 mt in South Korea’s external steel product trade, according to data issued by the Korea Iron and Steel Association (KOSA).
In particular, South Korea’s net exports of flat steel products in the given period amounted to 7,752,000 mt, led by brisk outbound shipments of cold rolled steel sheets for which net exports totaled 3,494,000 mt. In the external trade of long products, however, South Korea recorded net imports of 1,362,000 mt for the first 10 months of the current year, led by wire rods with net imports of 850,000 mt in the given period.
October alone, South Korea’s exports of steel products amounted to 2,578,000 mt, similar to the volume in October last year, whereas steel imports edged up 0.3 percent year on year to 1,597,000 mt.