Posted on 22 Jul 2025
China's stainless steel exports totalled 389,951 tonnes in June, declining by 10.6% month-on-month and by 13.9% from a year earlier, data released by the General Administration of Customs (GACC) on July 20 showed.
China's stainless shipments to most of its usual destinations fell in June, with those to Russia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates (UAE) – which were among the top six buyers of China's stainless last month – seeing noticeable on-month declines, Mysteel Global noted.
Stainless steel shipments to Russia decreased 21.8% on month and stood at 27,534 tonnes in June. Shipments to Turkey saw a 23.1% on-month decline to stand at 25,474 tonnes, while those to the UAE plummeted 31.2% from May to 17,296 tonnes, according to GACC data.
The sharp drop in China's stainless steel shipments to these countries was largely attributable to tariff issues, said a Shanghai-based industry insider.
"Most of the importers of Chinese stainless steel in those countries were still watching how global trade flows were unfolding, as US tariff policies are causing uncertainty in the global market," he explained.
"For example, any escalation in US-China trade tensions is expected to impact China's stainless steel export prices further, keeping those major consumer countries of Chinese stainless that might have been expecting cheaper import cargoes on the sidelines," he said, adding that Washington's tariff on all Chinese steel imports is now 70%.
In addition, the appreciation in Russia's Ruble also caused a decline in that country's stainless steel imports from China, the industry insider added.
Stainless exports to Vietnam – China's largest stainless steel export destination – also declined in June to 41,411 tonnes, down 8.5% on month and 1.1% on year. Total stainless exports to Vietnam from January-June reached 257,009 tonnes, up 22.3% from the same period last year, though.
Meanwhile, China's total stainless exports in the first half of the year amounted to around 2.5 million tonnes, up 5.7% on year, the GACC statistics show.
On the import front, China's stainless steel imports in June fell 12.5% on month and 16.6% on year to stand at 109,457 tonnes in June. In the first half of this year, total stainless steel imports also plunged 25.3% from H1 last year to reach 827,478 tonnes, the GACC data showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
