Import of primary aluminium in South Korea is on a rise in last three years

<p>South Korea is today one of the key aluminium markets in Asia with consumption of 21,5 kg per capita compared to 15+kg per capita for developed countries,&nbsp; mostly driven by growing end user demand in the automotive, construction and electronics and communication sector.&nbsp; Studies indicate that the industrial production in South Korea will grow by 5.9% per year until 2025, driving the growth of aluminium consumption in the country.<br /><br />As one of the world's fastest growing exporters of industrial products, South Korea imports significant amount of primary aluminium ingots to supply their local demand and export the processed aluminium products globally. Let us analyse the trading patterns for primary aluminium in South Korea to understand the market demand and consumption trends. </p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/south%20korea1.jpg" alt="News" width="517" height="226" /><br />South Korea has been following an upward pattern for primary aluminium import. In the year 2014, imports of aluminium stood at about 1.4 million tons. The volume increased slightly to 1.5 million tons in 2015. In 2016, the aluminium import is estimated to stand at about 1.6 million tons.&nbsp; The constant rise in import is driven by growing domestic aluminium consumption to manufacture value added aluminium products in the country.&nbsp; For the first eight months of 2017, the import of aluminium by South Korea is estimated to be about 1 million tons.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/south%20korea2.jpg" alt="News" width="517" height="226" />The cost from import was US$ 3.3 billion and US$ 3 billion respectively for the years 2014 and 2015. The drop in value can be attributed to an oversupply of aluminium in the international markets and the drop in aluminium price and premiums in 2015. In 2016, the cost of import is estimated to be about US$ 4.9 billion. For the first eight months of 2017, the cost of import of aluminium by South Korea is estimated to be about US$ 4 billion tons.<br /><br />{googleAdsense}<br /><br />The imports are mainly driven by Australia, India and Russia. UAE and Saudi Arabia also supply a significant amount of aluminium to South Korea.&nbsp; China notably contributes a very small amount of the total primary aluminium import by South Korea.</p>