SteelOrbis Shanghai
According to the latest Chinese customs data, in November China exported 4.10 million mt of finished steel products, registering a drop of 140,000 mt month on month. Meanwhile, China's exports of semis in the month in question totaled 170,000 mt, down 10,000 mt over the previous month. In November, the significant downward trend in exports which had been evident since July was seen to be coming to an end.
However, the exports of finished steel products and semis were still down strongly compared with November 2006, declining respectively by 530,000 mt or 11.4 percent and by 1.31 million mt or 88.5 percent. From January to November, China's total exports of finished steel reached 57.86 million mt, up 20.40 million mt or 54.5 percent year on year. Meanwhile, exports of semi-finished steel in the January-November period totaled 6.30 million mt, down 2.24 million mt or 26.2 percent.
Due to the continuous increase of domestic prices in China, imports of finished steel increased in November, totaling 1.35 million mt, up 140,000 mt or 11.6 percent over the previous month, but down 130,000 mt or 8.8 percent year on year. In November, China's semis imports amounted to 10,000 mt, unchanged with that in October but down 10,000 mt or 50 percent year on year. From January to November, China imported 15.54 million mt of finished steel, with a decline of 1.47 million mt or 8.6 percent year on year, while semis imports during the same period totaled 220,000 mt, with a drop of 130,000 mt or 39 percent.
As a result, China's net exports of finished steel and semi-finished steel in November stood at 2.75 million mt and 160,000 mt respectively. For the month in question, net crude steel exports reached 2.9 million mt, down 460,000 mt or 13.7 percent compared with October. In the January-November period, China's net exports totaled 42.32 million mt of finished steel and 6.08 million mt of semi-finished steel. Net crude steel exports for the period totaled 50.63 million mt.
China's coke exports in November totaled 1.17 million mt, down respectively 250,000 mt or 17.6 percent month on month and 420,000 mt or 26.4 percent year on year. From January to November, coke exports totaled 14.33 million mt, up 710,000 mt or 5.5 percent compared with the same period last year.
China's iron ore imports in November totaled 35.46 million mt, up 5.87 million mt or 19.7 percent month on month and up 6.9 million mt or 24.2 percent year on year. From January to November, iron ore imports totaled 349.03 million mt, up 51.35 million mt or 17.3 percent compared with the same period last year.
China's steel exports in November did not decrease to the same degree as in previous months, due to the expectations that new export tariffs are to be implemented as of January 1, 2008. For this reason, in November exporters greatly increased the quantities of their products directed to external markets, resulting in a decline in domestic inventories and some price increases in the domestic market. Since the above factor will continue to have an impact in December, it is expected that exports in December will not decline greatly.