China’s Jan-Nov steel exports down 18%, imports up 74%

China exported a total of 48.8 million tonnes of finished steel over January-November, down 18.1% on year, while its finished steel imports surged 74.3% on year to 18.9 million tonnes over the same period, according to the latest statistics released by the country’s General Administration of Customs on December 7.

The decline in China’s steel exports, however, narrowed from the 19.3% on-year drop over January-October, mainly due to higher steel exports in November, as the global demand has been recovering and the narrowing gap between China’s domestic and export prices of steel products in September, as the November deliveries were mainly booked two months before, Mysteel Global understands.

In November, China’s finished steel exports approximated 4.4 million tonnes, up 9% on month but down 3.8% on year, according to the available Customs data.

On the other hand, China’s steel imports fell 4% on month in November to about 1.85 million tonnes in November, or the second consecutive month with on-month decline from the record high of nearly 2.9 million tonnes in September, according to the publicly-available Customs data, but it was still up 81.2% on year, and the on-year gain in the country’s steel imports in the first eleven months, was still higher than the 73.9% rise over January-October, Mysteel Global noted.

Global steel market has shown signs of slow but consistent recovery in both demand and supply in September even though the second or third wave of the COVID-19 outbreak hit many countries out of China in November, as the overseas economies have been striving to return to the normal tracks after a few months of partial or complete lockdowns over late February-August, Mysteel Global noted.

In September, major steel mills in the countries such as Vietnam, Japan, India and those in Europe have been gradually lifting their output and prices, enabling Chinese steel producers to raise their export offering prices in tandem and to narrow the gap against the domestic prices, Mysteel’s tracking showed.

On September 11, Formosa Ha Tinh (FHS), Vietnam’s largest integrated steel mill, for example, increased its HRC offering prices by $45-50/t on month to $545-550/t (non-skin pass) and $550-555/t (skin pass) CIF for both domestic and overseas sales for November 20 deliveries, or the fourth price increment since June, as Mysteel Global reported.

China’s SS400 4.75mm HRC, therefore, went up by $21/t on month accordingly to $521/t FOB Tianjin port, North China, according to Mysteel’s assessments.

Written by Olivia Zhang, zhangwd@mysteel.com

Edited by Hongmei Li, li.hongmei@mysteel.com