Posted on 13 Apr 2016
The report predicts moderate growth of 2.5% in the country’s steel production during the year. The Korean steel output is likely to total 76 million tonnes in 2016. However, the country’s steel demand is likely to post a marginal growth of only 0.6% to just under 56 million tonnes during the year. The small increase in demand will be on account of higher construction investment, POSRI notes. The construction investment is expected to post 2% growth in 2016. Residential real estate investment is likely to be the key driver of growth, followed by residential investment. The report predicts small recovery in shipbuilding construction as well. However, automotive output is expected to remain more or less flat as declining domestic sales will offset rise in exports.
Domestic steel producers are likely to benefit from falling steel imports and rising exports. The country’s steel imports are expected to decline nearly 2.1% over the previous year to 21.6 million tonnes in 2016. On the other hand, Korean steel exports are predicted to grow by 3.1% to 32.5 million tonnes during the year.
Category wise, Korean flat products output is expected to grow by 3.8% to 48 million tonnes. At the same time, long products output is expected to grow by 1.9% to 20.3 million tonnes during the current year. POSRI expects the flat products exports to surge by nearly 5% to 26 million tonnes. Long products export will be up by 2.1% to 2.9 million tonnes during the current year. Meantime, steel pipe exports are likely to post significant decline during the year.
