It was reported that the South Korean stainless steel market has been being unstable since China canceled its export tax rebates at the end of April. Due to higher imported stainless steel prices and a large proportion of Chinese stainless steel in the domestic market, South Korean buyers cannot find other sources in the short term but turn to purchase from POSCO.

According to market participants, POSCO’s 304 cold rolled 2B stainless steel is relatively less stable than other mills’ as it isn’t POSCO’s main product. However, the domestic buyers believed that the local stainless steel source in the only option to ease the shortage of supply before finding other suitable sources to replace Chinese stainless steel.