Sales of South Korean domestic production cold heading quality (CHQ) wire decreased slightly in the second quarter this year as compared with the same quarter last year, as reported by Korea Metal Journal.
According to a survey of the top 10 local producers of CHQ wire, their second quarter sales slid 2.8 percent year on year to 179,438 mt. Of these sales, domestic sales and overseas sales amounted to 168,513 mt and 10,970 mt, respectively, marking year-on-year declines of 1.7 percent and 16 percent.
The year-on-year decline in sales of CHQ wire in the April-June quarter this year is a base effect from major domestic producer POSCO's price hike for wire rods at the end of April last year, which influenced the domestic market for CHQ wire in the same quarter last year.
Of the total CHQ wire sales in the second quarter, sales of heat-treated high value-added products amounted to 125,301 mt, a drop of 0.1 percent from a year ago but up 5,000 mt from the fourth quarter last year. Meanwhile, sales of hard drawn products, which are widely used in the production of bolts, totaled 54,182 mt, down 8.4 percent from a year earlier, affected by a prolonged slump in the construction industry. This volume was down 1,400 mt from the fourth quarter last year and down 1,500 mt from three months earlier.
By company, in the second quarter SeAH Special Steel sold the largest volume, with a total of 72,802 mt, among the domestic producers of CHQ wire, accounting for 39.7 percent of second quarter CHQ wire sales.