Ferrous Scrap Import Halves in China, Rises by 53% in South Korea

Chinese ferrous scrap import decreased by 47.1% to 257,807 tonnes in October from September, which decreased to less than 300,000 tonnes for the first time since October 2008. On the other hand, South Korean ferrous scrap import increased by 52.5% to 826,556 tonnes in October from September, which increased to more than 800,000 tonnes for the first time in 6 months.

Chinese scrap import from Japan decreased by 20.9% to 180,003 tonnes in October from September, which decreased to less than 200,000 tonnes for the first time in 4 months. The import from USA decreased to 2,206 tonnes from 151,113 tonnes in September.

Chinese scrap import decreased by 60.4% to 4.839 million tonnes in January-October from same period of 2009. While the import increased to around 4 times at 13.692 million tonnes in 2009 from 2008, the import is annualized around 5.8 million tonnes. China recorded some export to Japan depending on the market condition in this year.

South Korean scrap import increased in October after the price declined in September, Japanese trader source said. The import from USA increased by 127.3% to 310,825 tonnes in October from September. The import from Japan increased by 54.4% to 310,409 tonnes. The import increased to more than 300,000 tonnes for the first time in 6 months both from Japan and USA. The import from Russia increased by 35.9% to 108,541 tonnes, which increased to more than 100,000 tonnes for the first time since October 2010.

South Korean scrap import increased by 4.5% to 6.9 million tonnes in January-October from the same period of 2009. The annualized import is record level of around 8.28 million tonnes.