The country imported 2.01 million tons of steel products last month, up 4.1 percent from the same month the year before, according to the data compiled by the Korea Iron & Steel Association.
Steep imports fell 3.8 percent and 7.3 percent on-year in January and February, respectively, after rising for 14 straight months.
In March, imports from China that cranks out low-cost steel products, soared 10.2 percent to 1.2 million tons from a year earlier, the data said. They accounted for 59.8 percent of the total steel imports last month.
However, steel imports from Japan tumbled 24.1 percent to 555,000 tons during the same period.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
