According to statistics, South Korea imported 5.168 million tons of scraps in the first half of this year, rising by 22.3% in comparison of that in the same period of a year earlier.

In the given period of time, Japan was the largest scrap exporter to South Korea with 2.385 million tons, soaring by 66.7%; the US was the second largest one with 1.483 million tons, falling by 4.5%; Russia was the third largest one with 382,000 tons, up by 0.8%, all compared to that in the same period of the previous year.

In June alone, South Korea’s scrap imports totaled 878,000 tons, increasing by 13.2% year on year while falling by 5.5% from a month ago.

Among them, 424,000 tons were from Japan, surging by 86.4%; 216,000 tons were from the US, down by 3% and 128,000 tons were from Russia, increasing by 29.5%, all compared to that in June, 2011.