GACC: China's Jan-Nov steel exports swell 36% YoY

During November alone, China's steel exports reached 8.01 million tonnes, higher by a tiny 0.8% from October but surging by a large 43.2% compared with November 2022 when global steel demand was being dragged down by the pandemic, high inflation, and geopolitical conflicts.

China's steel shipments abroad during November were mainly fulfilling orders signed about two months earlier, Mysteel Global notes.

Around September, Chinese steel products could still maintain their price advantage in international steel markets, observed a Shanghai-based market analyst, saying that competitive pricing has remained the major reason keeping China's steel exports elevated.

For example, as of September 28, the export price of Chinese SS400 4.75mm hot-rolled coil was assessed by Mysteel at $540/t FOB from North China's Tianjin port, lower by $40/t compared with Japan-origin offers posted the same day, according to Mysteel's survey.

Although September is normally a peak month for steel consumption in China, with pleasant weather prevailing in most regions of the country, this year the weaker-than-expected recovery in domestic steel demand failed to absorb the extra steel that domestic mills produced that month, industry watchers recalled. This situation led many Chinese steel producers to actively seize overseas trading opportunities.

Over January-September, China's crude steel output moved higher by 1.7% on year to total 795.1 million tonnes, according to data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics.

On the other hand, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among China's 237 traders under Mysteel's regular survey averaged 148,530 tonnes/day in September, well below than the threshold of 200,000 t/d usual for the traditional peak consumption months of September-October.

In parallel, during this year's January-November period, China also imported 6.98 million tonnes of steel products, with the total being lower by 29.2% on year, according to the GACC's data.

Written by Carly Chen, chenziyi@mysteel.com

Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com