The Korea Iron and Steel Association announced on March 16 that South Korea imported 1.776 million tons of steel products last month,10.9% more than a year ago.The rate of year-on-year increase was the highest since August 2015,when the imports had increased by 13.8%.

The steel product imports rebounded in December last year and edged down 0.1% in the following month after having declined for three months in a row.In February this year, the imports from China, which account for 58.6% of the total,increased 15.2% to 1.041 million tons while the imports from Japan fell 3% to 552,000 tons.

By item,the hot-rolled steel plate imports from Japan and China rose by 42.2% and 12.7% to 264,000 tons and 241,000 tons,respectively.The latter continued to increase,causing the total hot-rolled steel plate imports to show an increase of 29.1% to 524,000 tons.In the meantime,the medium and thick plate imports from China rose by 4.3% to 147,000 tons whereas those from Japan fell by 16.1% to 52,000 tons with the total medium and thick plate imports decreasing 0.5% from a year ago.The association explained that South Korean steelmakers increased their imports for a larger inventory ahead of the upcoming peak season.