South Korea’s copper scrap imports through the year till July remained flat at 196,894mt, compared with 195,520mt in the first seven months of 2020, according to Customs data. The country imported 28,920mt of the material in July of this year, up 18pc from 24,478mt in the same month of 2020.
The US remained the largest exporter to the country, shipping out 6,174mt of copper scrap to South Korea in July, up by 17pc on an annual basis. Meanwhile, shipments from Saudi Arabia also increased by 217pc in the same period to 2,905mt.
Aluminum scrap
On the other hand, aluminum scrap imports into South Korea climbed 8.5pc at 607,568mt compared with 559,761mt in January-July 2020. This is mainly due to a 35pc increase in aluminum scrap imports in March. That said, shipments, however, fell 3pc in July to 82,460mt from 84,617mt a year ago.
The US was also the largest exporter of aluminum scrap to South Korea in July at 17,000mt, down 33pc from 25,388mt in July 2020. Thailand came in second at 8,706mt, up 60pc, followed closely by Japan at 8,182mt down 21pc.