Korea Iron & Steel Association predicted that South Korea’s demand for steel products would become sluggish in the second half of 2011.

Though the investments in construction project will increase in South Korea in second half of this year, the inflation may lead end user to adjust the steel inventory.

Thus, it’s predicted that the sales volume of steel products in South Korean domestic market in the second half of 2011 would drop to 26.54 million tonnes from 28.49 million tonnes in the first half.

Accordingly, KOSA estimated that the sales volumes of steel products in South Korean domestic market would be at around 55.03 million tonnes in 2011, up by 5.0% in comparison of 52.39 million tonnes in 2010.

Meanwhile, KOSA analyzed that South Korea’s exports of steel products increased in the first half of this year as South Korean steel mills raised the steel supply to the overseas subsidiary.

(Sourced from www.yieh.com)