Posted on 11 Mar 2026
China's finished steel exports declined by 8.1% on year to reach 15.59 million tonnes over January-February, according to the latest statistics from the country's General Administration of Customs (GACC) on March 10.
In addition to the combined data for January-February, the GACC also released trade data for February, which makes the January data also readily available, Mysteel Global noted.
Finished steel export volumes in January and February totalled 7.75 million tonnes and 7.84 million tonnes respectively, lower by 13.2% and 2.5% on year, Mysteel Global calculated based on the GACC data. 
That last month's exports were still higher than those in January – despite the disruptions to cargo handling and Customs Clearance caused by this year's nine-day Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday in February – is especially significant.
The reason is clearly the reintroduction by the central government of the new export licensing system for steel that was suddenly announced last December and which took effect on January 1 this year, as Mysteel Global reported.
Since the policy was rolled out, a significant number of low value-added steel products have been forced out of the export market, as rising compliance costs associated with the change and borne by exporters have made Chinese steel products less appealing to the overseas buyers, market sources explained.
For example, on January 30, Mysteel assessed China's export price of SS400 3.00mm hot-rolled coil (HRC) at North China's Tianjin Port at $463/tonne FOB, higher by $8/tonne from end-December. By February 27, the export price of the same grade of HRC had climbed by another $5/t at Tianjin port to $468/t, according to Mysteel's survey.
Meanwhile, an increasing number of anti-dumping (AD) cases targeting Chinese steel and launched by governments in emerging markets in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia have also dampened overseas buying interest, with the falls in January-February exports being proof of this.
For example, since January Brazil has successively announced a series of AD measures on Chinese steel products including galvanized steel, non-grain oriented steel, CRC and pre-painted steel, as reported, while also raising the import duties on products such as grain-oriented electrical steel and hot-rolled pickled steel. Symptomatic of this is the surge in offer prices of HRC for export from South American steelmakers this year [see table above].
In addition, several anti-dumping investigations launched in 2025 are expected to be concluded this year and seem likely to also penalize China-origin steel. This, coupled with the impact to steel shipments from intensifying Mid-East tensions, may add further pressure on China's steel exports this year, Mysteel Global notes. The Middle East is China's second largest steel export market after the ASEAN region.
Meanwhile, regarding China's finished steel imports during January-February, these totaled 827,000 tonnes over this year's first two months, down by 21.7% from 2025, the GACC data showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
