Posted on 24 Nov 2025
China's stainless steel exports retreated significantly in October as overseas demand weakened. Last month's volume marked the year's lowest monthly level, with the exception of February when most production and logistics were suspended due to the weeklong Chinese New Year holiday.
Last month, the country's stainless exports reached 358,100 tonnes, according to new data released by the General Administration of Customs (GACC), lower by 60,400 tonnes or 14.4% compared with September and by 59,300 tonnes or 14.2% from October last year.
The downturn was broad-based too, with the GACC numbers showing that exports of cold-rolled coil, for example, experienced a notable drop of 24,000 tonnes or 12.3% month-on-month at 173,300 tonnes.
An analyst based in East China's Wuxi city attributed the contraction in stainless shipments abroad to a combination of weakened overseas demand following sustained price increases in this year's third quarter, and ongoing trade policy uncertainties in overseas markets.
Shipments to Russia and Japan from China recorded the sharpest declines, plunging by 12,600 tonnes or 39.9% on month to the former and by 9,400 tonnes or 61.6% to the latter, the GACC statistics indicate.
Meanwhile, though Southeast Asia remains a key destination for Chinese steel exporters, shipments there also dipped by 7,700 tonnes or 6.7% from September and by 8,900 tonnes or 7.7% on year to 107,000 tonnes in October.
However, the data showed that China's stainless imports edged up 3.2% on month to 124,100 tonnes in October, while net exports fell 21.5% on month to 234,000 tonnes.
In contrast to the weak performance during October alone, China's cumulative stainless export volume for this year's first ten months stood at 4.14 million tonnes for a slight on-year increase of 0.7%.
The GACC data indicate that China's cumulative stainless steel imports during the same period fell 21.4% year-on-year to 1.26 million tonnes. This resulted in a 14.8% on-year rise in net exports to 2.88 million tonnes.
Source:Mysteel Global
