South Korean producers of stainless steel wire are decreasing their use of domestic wire rods due to an increasing price gap between domestic materials and imported products. According to stainless wire industry officials, the import prices for foreign 300 series stainless steel wire rods are less than the market prices for domestic production stainless steel wire rods, with a price gap of $300-600/mt. As a result, a significant number of local stainless steel wire makers are decreasing their use of domestic wire rods and increasing their purchases of imported products. At the moment, the import prices for foreign stainless steel wire have become close to the South Korean market prices for domestic production stainless steel wire rods. Therefore, South Korean stainless steel wire producers prefer the foreign wire rods imported at lower prices in an attempt to compete in a price war for sales. According to data from the Korea International Trade Association, South Korea’s aggregate imports of stainless steel wire rods in the first half of the year increased by 25.7% to 17,426mt compared to the same period last year.
