South Korea’s aluminium, copper and stainless steel scrap imports rose by 4.7pc, 9.4pc and 30.7pc, respectively, in March 2020 from a year ago, unaffected by the spread of COVID-19. The country’s ferrous scrap imports, however, fell by 22.4pc as South Korean mills reduced purchases of bulk US cargoes, on weak demand in the domestic construction sector and stocked up inventories.
| South Korea scrap imports | March 2020 | March 2019 | % change |
| Aluminium scrap | 76,556 | 73,134 | 4.7 |
| Major exporters | |||
| US | 23,729 | 21,502 | 10.4 |
| Japan | 10,147 | 8,669 | 17 |
| Thailand | 6,507 | 7,752 | -16 |
| Copper scrap | 32,292 | 29,527 | 9.4 |
| Major exporters | |||
| US | 8,314 | 6,038 | 37.7 |
| Japan | 2,004 | 2,038 | -1.7 |
| Saudi Arabia | 1,872 | 2,032 | -7.9 |
| Stainless Steel scrap | 27,159 | 20,775 | 30.7 |
| Major exporters | |||
| Japan | 13,306 | 11,064 | 20.3 |
| Thailand | 6,335 | 6,178 | 2.6 |
| US | 3,041 | 331 | 818.8 |
| Ferrous scrap | 491,150 | 632,633 | -22.4 |
| Major exporters | |||
| Japan | 330,293 | 279,037 | 18.4 |
| Russia | 62,254 | 44,945 | 38.5 |
| US | 54,677 | 243,928 | -77.6 |