China's Tariff Commission officially issued the policy of the export tax rebate cancellation on cold rolled coil, HDG and silicon steel on July 29, which will be effective as of August 1, for the 19 custom codes of 72091510, 72091590…and 72261900.
At the same time, China will raise the export tax on ferrochrome and high purity pig iron, to 40 and 20 percent, respectively, as of August 1.
According to the CISA, China exported 37.38 million mt of finished steel in the first half this year, up 30.2 percent year on year, while up 8.6 percent compared to the same period in 2019. China imported 7.35 million mt of finished steel, up 0.1 percent year on year, signaling the growth in exports, in the finished steel segment, has been much more than imports.
Market insiders said that the China’s cancelation of export tax rebate aimed to match the country’s requirement of cutting crude steel output and curbing the quick increases in iron ore prices and promote the high-quality development of steel industry.
Following the cancellation of export tax rebate on part of steel products in May this year, the steel prices in overseas market edged up further, for instance, the price gap between local and export HRC reached the highest level in history. Chinese local steel enterprises have been willing to produce and export.