China steel imports weaken as power shortage cripples industry

Metal Recycling News  |  2011-06-13 10:34:56   |   By

China's steel exports amounted to 4.76 million mt, down 3.64 percent in May year on year and down 10,000 mt compared to April, according to Chinese customs data.

BEIJING (Scrap Monster): China's steel exports amounted to 4.76 million mt, down 3.64 percent in May year on year and down 10,000 mt compared to April, according to Chinese customs data. According to analysts power shortage had badly impacted the metals industry and measures to curb inflation added to tightness in the market.

Meanwhile, in the first five months of 2011, China's total steel exports rose by 11.6 percent year on year to 20.04 million mt.

In May, China's steel imports totaled 1.28 million mt, decreasing by 90,000 mt month on month and down 5.88 percent year on year.

In the period from January to May, Chinese aggregate steel imports came to 6.83 million mt, down 1.9 percent compared to the same period of 2010.

Meanwhile China's iron ore imports rose 0.8 per cent to 53.3 million tonnes in May from the previous month.

Total imports of iron ore for the first five months rose 8.1 per cent to 283.25 million tonnes from a year ago, data showed.

As the world's biggest steel producer, China exported 4.76 million tonnes of finished steel products in May, down a marginal 0.2 per cent from April, taking total Jan-May exports to 20.04 million tonnes, up 11.6 from a year earlier.

Meantime, steel product imports dropped 6.6 per cent to 1.28 million tonnes from April, and the accumulative Jan-May imports was 6.83 million tonnes, down 1.9 per cent from the same period of last year.