Korea has More Than 520 Million Tonnes of Steel in Reserve
09/13/2010 - Posco cites a recent Korea Iron & Steel Association report stating that the local steel industry had 522.21 million tonnes of steel in reserve at the end of 2009, a 3.6% increase from a year earlier.
Posco cites a recent Korea Iron & Steel Association (KISA) report stating that the local steel industry had 522.21 million tonnes of steel in reserve at the end of 2009, a 3.6% increase from a year earlier.
The figure increased by 18.2 million tonnes from 504.1 million tonnes in 2008, according to the report. The amount of steel accumulated in the country surpassed 100 million tonnes in 1990, 200 million tonnes in 1995, 300 million tonnes in 2000, 400 million tonnes in 2004, and 500 million tons in 2008.
Posco notes that the amount of accumulated steel is an important barometer to predict changes in scrap demand—short term and long term—and the level of future self-sufficiency in scrap, as steel products, once recollected in the form of steel scrap, are used to produce steel.
The country’s level of self-sufficiency marked 71.2% in 2009, the report said. The deficit has been imported from Japan and the United States, among others.
In 2007, the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade predicted the time of self-sufficiency for the local steel industry to come in 2022, Posco says. According to the KISA, however, the timing could be delayed, as the hike in demand for high-quality steel scrap leads the industry to depend more on imports.
