South Korea’s iron and steel imports from China jumped to a six-year high last year, industry data showed Tuesday, causing worries that the low-priced products might hurt local steelmaking companies.

According to the data from the Korea Iron & Steel Association, South Korea’s imports of iron and steel products from China increased 34.9 percent on-year to 13.4 million tons last year.

The amount is the largest since 2008, when 14.31 million tons were imported from China.

The association attributed the spike to an oversupply of steel production in China that couldn’t find demand at home and ended up flowing into the Korean market.

“The sense of crisis among local steelmakers is growing as low-priced Chinese products are flooding the market,” an association official said.

South Korea’s total iron and steel imports came to 22.74 million tons last year, up 17.3 percent from a year earlier, the data showed. Imports from Japan contracted 5.3 percent on-year to 7.31 million tons. (Yonhap)