Industry News

1、 Current situation of demand and production capacity
Export led market under pressure
Exports to the United States have been hit hard by tariffs: In 2024, South Korea's steel exports to the United States plummeted by 34.8% year-on-year, and indirect exports of light steel keel were dragged down, resulting in a 6.4% year-on-year decline in total steel exports.
Structural adjustment of high-end production capacity: Steel enterprises have increased their per capita crude steel production to 2200 tons/person by scaling up equipment (blast furnace expansion to 4902m ³) and reducing employee scale (a 62% decrease from 1992), supporting the production of high value-added light steel keel.
Significant differentiation in local demand
Weak demand for steel in the construction industry: crude steel production in the 2024-25 fiscal year decreased by 4.5% year-on-year to 82.95 million tons, hitting a three-year low, mainly due to the suppression of high interest rates on residential construction.
Industrial and public building demand support: The penetration rate of modular buildings in the logistics and warehousing field has reached 73.7%, driving the application of light steel keel in factory roofs and partition systems.

2、 Competition pattern of industrial chain
Building a moat through technological barriers
Local leading market: KIRII holds a 30% market share and has an annual production capacity of 200000 tons. Its product strength and lightweight balance technology are leading.
Advantages of Special Steel Application: Nippon Steel's duplex stainless steel accounts for 70% of the market share in marine engineering, which is suitable for the anti-corrosion keel needs of coastal buildings.
Double impact of international competition
Squeezing low-priced products in China: The average export price of Chinese steel has decreased by 18.7% year-on-year, forcing South Korean companies to shift to high-end categories such as nuclear power pressure vessel steel (accounting for 35% of stainless steel production value).
Tariff Upgrade in Europe and America: In June 2025, the US will increase its steel and aluminum tariffs on South Korea from 25% to 50%, which is expected to lower the nominal GDP growth rate by 0.02 percentage points.

3、 Green transformation and technological upgrading
Policy driven emission reduction transformation
Environmental standards are becoming stricter: NOx emission standards are 30% stricter than in 2015, promoting the popularization rate of SCR devices in steel plants to 100%.
Hydrogen metallurgy acceleration: The government invests 12 billion yen to support electric furnace steelmaking, with the goal of increasing the proportion of electric furnaces from 28% to 45% by 2030.
Intelligent production reduces costs and increases efficiency
The AI quality inspection system has increased the yield rate to 99.5%, and the factory automation rate has exceeded 50%.
BIM technology achieves construction accuracy of ± 1.5mm, and the demand for emergency buildings such as modular shelters within 48 hours has surged.