Chinese Steel Exports Declined 15% in July; Imports Dropped Marginally

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest trade statistics published by the Chinese General Administration of Customs indicate notable decline in export quantity of steel by the country during the month of July this year.

The exports during the month totaled 5.886 million tons, down significantly by 15.2% over the previous month. When compared with the corresponding month last year, the July ’18 steel exports were down by 15.4%. This is the first time during the past four months that the steel exports have fallen below the 6 million tons threshold, Customs data said.

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According to sources, the sharp decline in export volume is mainly on account of increased domestic demand for steel products within the country. It must be noted that the country’s crude steel production had peaked at 80.20 million tons during June. The average daily output of crude steel by key steel enterprises has increased marginally by 1.56% during early-August too. The domestic steel market trends turned positive towards the second half of the month. The domestic steel prices remained higher when compared with export price. The Chinese steel mills mainly catered to the domestic market demand.

The cumulative steel exports during the initial seven-month period of 2018 totaled 52.388 million tons, significantly lower by 13.6% over the previous year.

The National Development and Reform Commission announced that the country has achieved over 80% of its target on annual capacity cut on crude steel by July this year. During the initial seven months of the year, the country has eliminated crude steel overcapacity of nearly 24.7 million mt.

Meantime, the Chinese steel imports dropped marginally by 1.2% over the prior month to total 1.027 million tons in July ’18. Over the previous year, the imports edged higher by 4.8%. The cumulative steel imports by the country during Jan-July ’18 too were down slightly by 1.1% at 7.698 million tons.