South Korea's import volume of stainless steel plates exceeded 90,000 tons. The rapid increase in plate imports in December, following November, seemed to be due to increased supply anxiety after the flood incident of POSCO in September last year and the result of aggressive import contracts.

Despite the relative decline in demand, the number of imported goods has increased significantly due to concerns about a gap in domestic demand.

However, sales by South Korean producers were expected to be a tough road ahead, given January's imports and costs.