Posted on 09 Sep 2026
China’s exports of finished steel during this year’s January-August period reached 75.15 million tonnes, down 3% on year, according to the latest statistics from the General Administration of Customs (GACC) published on September 8.
During August alone, China exported 10.16 million tonnes of finished steel, up by a significant 6.8% on year, the GACC data showed, with the August result extending the on-year rises seen in June and July. With these two, August marked the third month so far this year for export volume to rise on-year.
GACC does not provide commentary with its data, but August's stronger-than-expected performance is in line with a pickup in overseas demand for Chinese flat steel products last month as manufacturing sectors began replenishing their stocks in preparation for the peak consumption season in September and October, market sources suggested.
The GACC is not scheduled to publish export data by destination region until September 18 but if the January-July trends are repeated, shipments to Africa and Central America are certain to be healthy.
On the detailed Customs data, China's steel exports to Africa jumped by nearly 14% on year over January-July to 10.57 million tonnes. In contrast, China's exports to Asia declined by 9.4% on year to 40.02 million tonnes – a decline that industry watchers last month attributed to trade remedy measures targeting Chinese steel products.
Looking ahead for the remaining months of this year, China's exports are likely to stay under pressure amid the global protectionist headwinds – Mexico's Ministry of Economy last week slapped definitive anti-dumping duties of $305-309/tonne on China-origin hot-rolled coil imports – while Chinese exporters will continue efforts to diversify their destinations and product mix to offset the negative impacts, sources suggest.
Meanwhile, China brought in 3.57 million tonnes of steel during January-August, down 10.5% on year, the GACC data showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
