South Korea's imports of H-beams increased by 23 percent year on year to 251,170 metric tons in the first quarter of this year, according to the Korea Iron and Steel Association (KOSA).
In particular, inbound shipments of Chinese H-beams rose by 37.7 percent year on year to 206,996 metric tons in the January-March period, accounting for 82.4 percent of South Korea's entire first quarter imports of H-beams, indicating a rise of 8.8 percentage points from 73.6 percent a year earlier. In contrast, imports of Japanese H-beams stayed at 43,604 metric tons in the first quarter of this year, accounting for 18.1 percent of the total inflow of H-beams for the first three months of the year, down 8.7 percentage points from 26.1 percent in the first quarter last year.
In March alone, South Korea imported 72,863 metric tons of H-beams, declining by 5.7 percent from 77,236 tons March last year and down 28.8 percent from 101,180 metric tons in February.
Such a fall in the imports of H-beams in March this year appears to have resulted from local H-beam producers' efforts to reduce the inflow of H-beams into the domestic market. However, market observers state that it will be necessary to watch the inflow of H-beam imports further in April and May to see whether domestic H-beam producers' efforts have really been successful.