As announced by the customs authorities at Shijiazhuang in China's Hebei Province, in the first half of the current year the overall finished steel export volume from the province totaled 3.632 million mt, up 27.5 percent, with an export value of $2.92 billion, up 21.8 percent, both year on year. In the given period, the average export price of finished steel from the province declined to $803/mt, from an average of $864/mt for the whole of 2011, thereby squeezing the profit margins of local steel producers.
Exports of steel plate from Hebei Province in the first half of the year totaled 1.521 million mt, up12.8 percent, with an export value of $1.09 billion, up 4.7 percent, both year on year. Steel plate accounted for 42 percent of the total steel product exports from the province in the period in question.
The main markets for finished steel exports from Hebei Province in January-June this year were Asia, Europe and Latin America, which respectively accounted for $2.01 billion, $290 million and $320 million of the province's total finished steel export value, with respective year-on-year changes of 28.9 percent, -29.9 percent and 65.0 percent.