According to the data released by Korea Iron and Steel Association, due to uncertainty of the global economy and the improvement in domestic steelmaking companies' production efficiency, South Korea's steel inventories by the end of July recorded the highest level to 1.523 million mt, including 590,000 mt of hot rolled plate, 441,000 mt of cold rolled plate and 492,000 mt of thick plate. In December 2010, these figures were only 522,000 mt, 381,000 mt and 345,000 mt respectively.
On the other hand, although some major steel mills in South Korea increased their steel products prices in Q2 to follow the international iron ore prices, eventually they offered discounts