Posted on 10 May 2022
China's total steel exports came in at 18.16 million tonnes over January-April, posting a sharper decline of 29.2% on year as against the on-year fall of 25.5% for the first three months, according to the latest data released by China's General Administration of Customs on May 9. Industry watchers cited the higher base for the same period last year to explain the fall.
For April alone, the country's steel export volume reached 4.98 million tonnes, lower by 3 million tonnes or 37.6% on year but slightly higher by 32,000 tonnes or 0.7% from the previous month, the data showed.
The on-month growth in April shipments had been expected, mainly thanks to the rise in orders from overseas buyers in late February and early March. The geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine had fueled concerns over rising energy prices and reduced supplies of steel and steelmaking raw materials from the two countries, causing disruptions to global supply chains and increasing demand for China-origin steel products, sources said.
Meanwhile, Chinese steel export prices were competitive compared with other countries, even though prices had spiked in tandem with the surge in global market levels. This helped to boost the shipments in April, Mysteel Global learned.
Besides, domestic steel producers and traders stepped up exports in February when local demand was lackluster, as many end-users in China had not resumed normal operations after the Chinese New Year holiday ended in early February, Mysteel Global noted. Steel shipments for April were mainly to fulfil orders signed in February or early March, according to market sources.
However, "the overseas market cooled somewhat in mid-March, as buyers preferred to monitor the price change both in their domestic market and in China after the previous round of frenzied buying," a market source in Shanghai said.
Last month, China imported 956,000 tonnes of steel products, down 55,000 tonnes or 5.4% from that for March. This took total imports for the first four months of this year to 4.17 million tonnes, lower by 14.7% from the same period last year, according to the GACC's statistics.
Source:Mysteel Global
