South Korea's exports of stainless hot rolled coils (HRC) and cold rolled (CR) steel sheets increased in April this year, though imports of these products decreased.
According to the statistics from the Korea Iron and Steel Association (KOSA), South Korea exported 46,859 metric tons of stainless hot rolled coil (HRC) in April, up 0.7 percent from the same month last year but marking a drop of 2.9 percent from a month earlier. With a continuing fall in the international market price for nickel in April on the London Metal Exchange (LME), overseas consumers of the products appear to have reduced their purchases. South Korea's aggregate exports of stainless HRC from January through April reached 190,436 mt, rising 1.7 percent from the same period last year.
In contrast to the above rise in exports, South Korea's imports of stainless HRC decreased to a large extent in April. In the given month, inbound shipments of stainless HRC totaled 36,811 mt, down 20.4 percent year on year and marking a fall of 19.5 percent from a month earlier. Local makers of stainless CR and consumers of stainless HRC reduced their purchases due to the continuing drop in the nickel price and the fall in the international market price for stainless HRC. Thus, accumulated imports of stainless HRC for the first four months of the year increased by 5.7 percent on year-on-year basis in comparison with a year-on-year surge of 18 percent in the first quarter of this year.
Industry officials are forecasting that in May stainless HRC will continue to see a slight rise in exports and a steep fall in imports, as consumer demand is weak in expectation of a further drop in import prices for the products.
In April, exports of domestic stainless cold rolled sheets surged 11.1 percent year-on-year to 44,065 mt. Compared with March, they declined by 9.6 percent in April due to the drop in the nickel price and uncertainty about the future of the global economy.