Steel mills in Korea are increasingly dependent on imported billets from Japan.

According to the data from the Korea iron and Steel Association, the total volume of billets imported from Korea decreased by 11.2% in January ~5 to 255694 tons. From the source of imports, Japan is the only source of South Korea's billet import growth, and Japan's exports to South Korea have risen by 22% to 175252 tons, while other countries have declined over the same period.

It is worth mentioning that the number of billets imported from the mainland of China decreased significantly, down 99.4% from 36057 tons a year ago to 221 tons. The main reason for the sharp decline is the rise in the price of China's billet exports and the rise in domestic steel prices. In the first half of this year, China's billet price remained at 3300 yuan / ton ~3700 yuan / ton, which is very close to the price of direct distribution channels in Korea.

In addition, the number of billets imported from South Korea in Taiwan decreased by 41.1% to 39489 tons. 15131 tons of billets imported from Iran and 25521 tons of billets imported from Russia.

Experts from the steel industry in South Korea believe that despite the increase in imports from Japan, imports from mainland China, Russia and Taiwan have been reduced, and many Korean companies have a shortage of raw materials, which will become increasingly dependent on the billets imported from Japan.