According to the latest data issued by Shijiazhuang customs, in the first half of 2010 the northeastern Chinese province of Hebei exported 3.035 million mt of finished steel, up 2.8 times compared with the same period of 2009 and almost neutral with the volume in the first half of 2008. The total revenue from the province's steel exports in the first six months reached $2.06 billion, increasing by 1.8 times year on year. Meanwhile, the average steel export price was $672.1/mt, down 27.3 percent from the corresponding period of last year.
In the first half of the current year, steel exports from the province of Hebei increased each month, reaching 725,000 mt in June, indicating a year-on-year growth of 4.6 times. The steel export volume in June was Hebei's highest since September 2008. During the first six months, the province's main exported steel product was steel plate, the export volume of which accounted for nearly half of the total.
The rapid growth in Hebei's steel exports in the first half of the year is mainly attributable to the steady recovery of the global steel market. The softening of demand in the Chinese domestic market is another reason for the rapid growth in export business in the period in question.