In July this year, South Korean steelmakers' sales of rebar in their domestic market surged by more than 10 percent year on year, boosted by the speculative demand for products in anticipation of higher prices.
In July, the South Korean mills sold a total of 716,500 mt of rebar, a rise of 4.4 percent from July last year. Of the total, their sales in the domestic market amounted to 666,200 mt, down 0.5 percent month on month but up 11.1 percent year on year.
Such a high rise in their rebar sales in the domestic market in July despite the seasonal low-demand period resulted from a sharp increase in speculative demand for products prior to the steel producers' price increase of KRW 50,000/mt at the end of the month.
In July, exports of rebars totaled 50,300 mt, up 28.4 percent month on month but down 42.2 percent year on year. Accordingly, robust sales of rebars in the domestic market led an increase in South Korean rebar producers' overall monthly rebar sales in July.
Meanwhile, the aggregate rebar sales from January through July declined by 4.7 percent year on year to 4,684,700 mt. Of the total, sales of rebars in the domestic market amounted to 4,361,600 mt, a fall of 4.1 percent from a year ago, while overseas sales came to 323,100 mt, down 11.6 percent from a year earlier.