South Korea imported 8,625,927 metric tons of steel
scrap in 2011, up 6.6 percent year on year, according to the Korea Iron and Steel Association (KOSA).
In the given year, South Korea imported 2,962,783 metric tons of steel
scrap from Japan, 2,796,713 metric tons from the US and 1,009,384 metric tons from Russia, respectively accounting for 34.3 percent, 32.4 percent and 11.7 percent of the total steel
scrap import figure. Compared with 2010, South Korea's imports of steel
scrap from Japan and the US declined by 11.8 percent and 2.3 percent respectively, while inbound shipments of Russian steel
scrap surged 29.2 percent from the previous year.
In December alone, South Korea's imports of steel
scrap totaled 726,705 metric tons, down 2.1 percent month on month but up 14.5 percent year on year. The average import price for steel
scrap in December last year was $528/mt CFR.