Posted on 14 Oct 2021
China’s finished steel exports declined further in September from August, sliding by another 2.6% on month to 4.9 million tonnes, which made last month’s export volume the second lowest so far this year, according to the latest statistics of China’s General Administration of Statistics (GACC) released on October 13.
The further decline in September showed that the central government’s policies discouraging the export of commercial-grade steel are having some impact, market sources agreed.
China has been guiding domestic steel suppliers to export less steel, especially commercial-grade items, and to prioritize meeting domestic-market demand, to realize Beijing’s goal of cutting crude steel output from the level of 2020. As part of these efforts, the government removed export tax rebates on all steel products of up to 13% in two batches from May 1 and August 1 respectively, as reported.
Not surprisingly, China’s finished steel exports had been on a steady downward track since July. However, total exports over January-September were still up 31.3% on year at 53 million tonnes, the GACC’s data showed.
This was both because of the high volumes sailing in the first half of this year and the low base of last year, an unusual year when China’s domestic demand surged after the COVID-19 pandemic was put under control in the country. This resulted in far fewer steel exports but record high imports, market sources recalled.
For the remaining few months of this year, Chinese market sources expect steeper falls in steel exports.
“September’s volumes were only slightly lower than August because of delayed shipment issues, as many orders signed in July weren’t able to sail until then,” an exporter based in East China said. “But the volumes in October and November may see more obvious declines,” he warned.
An official from a major steelmaker in Northeast China agreed. “Export trading activity will most likely stay quiet for the rest of this year, given the tight domestic supply, poor overseas demand and the lower price competitiveness of Chinese steel products,” she said.
As for imports, China imported 1.26 million tonnes of finished steel in September, reversing up by 18.1% on month, according to the GACC statistics. Nonetheless, this took the total over January-September to just 10.7 million tonnes, down by a larger 28.9% on year compared with the 22.4% on-year decline over January-August.
Source:Mysteel Global
