SteelOrbis Shanghai
Negotiations between
China's H-beam producers and their South Korean counterparts concluded yesterday with the consensus that Chinese H-beam exports to South Korean will be limited to 500,000 metric tons in 2007.
It is estimated that by the end of 2006
China's H-beam exports to South
Korea will have reached the elevated annual level of 800,000 metric tons. In fact, both sides had already discussed the issue on November 14 this year, but without coming to any positive result. At the November talks, South
Korea had requested that Chinese H-beam exports to South
Korea be restricted to 250,000 mt per year in the near future. However,
China expressed its dissatisfaction with this.
At yesterday's meeting, both parties also commenced discussions on South
Korea's quota on
wire rods and
rebar from
China. No agreement was reached on the issue. At the beginning of this year, Korean officials had urged
China to limit its exports of
rebar to South
Korea to a monthly figure of 30,000 mt, but
China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) had not accepted that figure. Therefore, this limitation could never be applied.