South Korea’s aluminium semi-finished exports to the US rise 78% YoY in May; imports down by 32%

South Korea exported 31,500 tonnes of aluminium (crude metal and alloys, aluminium semi-finished products and scrap) to the US in the first five months of 2019, from 17,800 tonnes exported in the first five months of 2018. In May, total aluminium exports stood at 5,300 tonnes, up 244.16% year-on-year, but down 20.3% month-on-month, according to the latest Mineral Industry Survey report from US Geological Survey.

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Aluminium semi-finished products export rose 148.78% year-on-year to 20,400 tonnes in five months period. In May, exports stood at 2,690 tonnes, an increase of 78.15% year-on-year from 1,510 tonnes. Exports dropped 46.63% month-on-month.

On the import side, South Korea's imports of total aluminium from the US stood at 128,000 tonnes in the first five months of 2019, 25.49% higher than the corresponding period of 2018. Imports came in at 22,800 tonnes in May, up 6.05% year-on-year, but down 16.48% month-on-month.

Aluminium semi-finished imports from the US came in at 1,600 tonnes in May period. That was down 32.49% compared with the same period of 2018. South Korea had imported 2,370 tonnes in May 2018. Imports were down 41.61% month-on-month.

During January-May, aluminium semi-finished imports from the US stood at 13,100 tonnes, a decrease of 2.24% from 13,400 tonnes in the same period last year.