Chinese Steel Attack

Products of Hebei Iron and Steel Group. (Photo by Ren Zhenglai via China Features)
Products of Hebei Iron and Steel Group. (Photo by Ren Zhenglai via China Features)

 

The share of imported iron and steel products has surged to 40 percent in 3 years compared to its domestic demand. This is mostly because South Korea's imports of iron and steel products from China has drastically increased.

The Korea Iron and Steel Association (KOSA) said on Jan. 20 that the domestic demand was up 7.7 percent to 51.05 million tons from the previous January to November last year. Imports were also up 17.5 percent to 20.89 million tons. Accordingly, the proportion of imported products increased 3.4 percent from the previous year to 40.9 percent of the total domestic demand.

After the percentage of imported products in the domestic demand recorded 41 percent in 2011, its rate had decreased to 38.3 percent in 2012 and 37.5 percent in 2014. However, it has increased to the 40 percent level again in 3 years.

An official from the steel industry said, “Among major steel countries with abilities to supply its demands, there was no single country in history whose percentage of the imported products remained at the 40 percent level. Thus, the domestic steel market is completely isolated from the domestic situation. Due to the increasing imported products, its threat is deepening.”

In fact, the U.S. showed the highest share of imported products last year and its figure was only 31.7 percent. Its rate was as low as 8.3 percent in Japan, while it was only 2.1 percent in China.

The KOSA explained, “Due to the sluggish domestic market last year, the imports of Japanese products decreased by 5.3 percent from the previous year. However, the imports of Chinese products surged to 34.9 percent, and that shifted to an upward trend of the total steel imports in the country.”

According to the KOSA, the imports of Chinese products surged to a whopping 34.9 percent last year compared with a year earlier, reaching 13.4 million tons. The figure is the second highest, following 14.31 million tons in 2008 when the county experienced short supply. The imports of Chinese iron and steel products have steadily increased every year from 8.69 million tons in 2010. The figure shows a sharp upward trend after it surpassed 10 million tons in 2011.

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