South Korea’s imports of Japanese steel products increased for the first time in six months in September as the weak yen helped push down their prices, ringing alarm bells for local steelmakers that are already facing falling profitability amid low demand, industry data showed Sunday.

According to the Korea Iron and Steel Association, South Korea imported a total of 678,000 tons of Japanese steel products, mostly steel plates, last month, up 10.7 percent from a year earlier.

Local steelmakers led by industry leader POSCO have been fighting an influx of cheap and low-end steel products from China.

Chinese steel products accounted for 23.4 percent of the local steel market as of August this year. Japanese steel products held a comparable 14 percent stake in the local market, the data showed. (Yonhap)