South Korea’s aluminium and copper scrap imports rose in February, while its ferrous scrap imports dropped from the prior year period.
Aluminium scrap imports
Aluminium scrap imports rose to 76,951mt in February, up by 19.86pc from 63,048mt scrap in February 2019, despite a COVID-19 lockdown in China. In January, South Korea imported 78,474mt of aluminium scrap. The US remained the top supplier of scrap to Korea with exports of 23,199mt, up by 18.21pc from the prior year. Imports from Japan amounted to 11,039mt, up by 38.10pc from the prior year period and imports from Thailand totalled 8,733mt, up by 3.56mt.
Copper scrap imports
Copper scrap imports rose to 32,420mt in February, up by 27.79pc from 29,225mt in the prior year period. In January, imports were 22,094mt. South Korea imported the highest volume of copper scrap from the US, followed by Saudi Arabia and Japan. South Korea imported 8,247mt of copper scrap from the US, up from 6,922mt imported a year ago. The country imported 2,386mt of copper scrap from Saudi Arabia, up from 2,316mt and imports from Japan totalled 1,952, up from 812mt from the prior year.
Ferrous scrap imports
South Korea’s ferrous scrap imports dropped in February 2020 amid the COVID-19 lockdown. The country imported 375,749mt of ferrous scrap in February 2020, down by 44pc from 669,455mt in the prior year. In January, the country imported 410,361mt ferrous scrap. Ferrous scrap import from Japan topped the chart with 266,323mt, up by 71pc from a year ago, and down by 44pc from 476,284mt in January 2020. Russia and United States exported 46,449mt and 43,867mt ferrous scrap, respectively.
South Korea’s ferrous scrap exports in February were 20,686mt, up from 15,520mt in January 2020.