Posted on 14 Apr 2023
China's finished steel exports totalled 20.08 million tonnes over January-March, jumping by 53.2% on year, according to the latest statistics from the country's General Administration of Customs (GACC) on April 13.
For March alone, China's steel exports came in at 7.89 million tonnes, leaping by 2.95 million tonnes or 59.6% on year, the Customs data showed.
The significant on-year increase was attributed to the low base in 2022, Mysteel Global notes. At that time, the country exported just 4.95 million tonnes of finished steel at a time when global steel demand was waning, impacted by the pandemic, inflation and geopolitical conflicts.
In parallel, China's steel shipments over this year's January-March period were mainly fulfilling orders signed two months earlier, market sources pointed out, when global steelmakers were grappling with rising production costs while Chinese steel products gained more competitiveness with their lower prices.
In Turkey for example, unprecedentedly high production costs due to rising scrap and electricity prices in January had significantly undermined the price advantage enjoyed by Turkish steel mills' products, leading domestic users to seek steel supplies from abroad, including China-origin, Mysteel Global learned.
By early January, ex-factory prices of Turkish hot-rolled coils had reached above $700/t EXW, while China's export price of SS400 4.75mm HRC under Mysteel's assessment was at $605/t FOB from North China's Tianjin port as of January 6.
Orders from the Middle East and Turkey were considerable over January to early February, a Shanghai based export trader remarked, with some agreements having a March laycan.
During the first week of January, Turkish orders for Chinese hot coils reached over 150,000 tonnes, with prices in the range of $640-655/t CFR, as reported.
Regarding steel imports, China imported 1.91 million tonnes of steel products during January-March, plunging by 40.5% on year, according to the GACC's statistics.
Source:Mysteel Global
