Steel bar sales in South Korea fall in Jan-Aug period
According to recent news in the market, in the first 8 months of 2004, sales of steel bars fell almost 5% from the same period of last year, due to a decline in construction projects. The Korea Iron & Steel Association (KISA) announced that the number of steel bars sold in the January-August period fell by 4.8% year-on-year to 7.2 million tons. Also, steel bar imports fell 29.6% to 559'000 tons during the corresponding period. The fall in sales was mostly attributed to the slowdown in the construction sector, the primary buyer of steel bars. The cooling of the construction sector is said to be due to a series of government measure implemented to reduce inflated housing prices. KISA also forecasted that this year will mark the first annual decline in total sales of steel bars in six years.