South Korea's steel exports to Singapore are expected to grow by approximately 20% annually

On June 21st, the Structural Steel Center of the Korea Steel Association announced that the KS (Korea Standards) Korean standards have been incorporated into the Singapore First Class Building and Construction Guidelines (BC1). The KS Korean standard covers 33 types of steel products for construction, including hot-rolled plates for welded structures, hot-rolled steel sections for building structures, carbon steel pipes for building structures, cold-rolled plates, hot-dip galvanized plates, and hot-rolled steel bars for building structures.

The Korea Steel Association predicts that South Korea's steel exports to Singapore will increase by approximately 20000 tons per year, an increase of approximately 20% per year. According to relevant data, in 2022, South Korea exported 118000 tons of steel to Singapore. Previously, only standards from the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and China were included in Singapore's first-class building and construction guidelines. Due to the previous lack of recognition of the KS Korean standard by Singapore, it is difficult for Korean construction steel to enter the Singapore construction market, and a series of tests are required for each delivery. In order to meet the relevant requirements of Singapore, the strength of Korean construction steel needs to be reduced by 20%.

The Korea Steel Association stated that with the inclusion of the KS South Korean standard in Singapore's first class building and construction guidelines, the Singapore construction market is now free to design and apply construction steel that meets the KS South Korean standard, with the potential to expand South Korea's steel exports to Singapore.