Accordingto data released by the Korea Iron and Steel Association recently, in Aprilthis year, South Korea's steel pipe exports fell by 12.9% year-on-year to235,900 tons. Among them, the export volume of petroleum industry pipe fellfrom 84,800 tons to 45,400 tons, a decrease of 46.5%.

    FromJanuary to April, South Korea's oil industry used 568,300 tons of pipe, anincrease of 89.2% from 308,800 tons in the same period of last year; pipelineexports reached 64,000 tons, an increase of 68.4% from 59,900 tons in the sameperiod last year. In terms of large-diameter steel pipes, the total number ofKorean spiral welded pipes exported from January to April was 1945 tons, whichwas a year-on-year drop of 67.4%. The number of straight seam welded pipesdecreased by 32.1% to 34,800 tons.

    Due to slowing construction activities, the Korean steel pipeindustry failed to increase the overall price of the product. In addition, theproduction of steel pipes in South Korea has been severely affected by thedecrease in overseas demand.