Korea's crude steel production in 2003

Korea’s crude steel production in 2003

As per the data released from Korea Iron & Steel Association (KOSA), country's total crude steel production amounted to 46.3 million tons in 2003 with an increase of 2% compared to 45.4 million tons recorded in 2002. As a result, Korea was the world's fifth largest crude steel supplier last year. The increase in production is attributed to the strong steel demand from domestic construction sector and shipbuilding as well as from China. Domestic crude steel production is expected to reach 54.3 million tons in 2004, with a 1.8% increase while imports are forecasted to drop by 5.5% to 5.89 million tons. KOSA also estimates domestic steel demand of automobile and home appliance to increase by 1.1% to 60.2 million tons this year. KOSA officials expressed that local steel industry has been converted into a high quality steel production system by Korean mills to cope with the rapid growth of Chinese steel industry.