Ralf Baltrusch: Chinese steel exports will continue to rise

During his presentation at the SteelOrbis 2015 Spring Conference & 72nd IREPAS Meeting in Paris on March 23, Ralf Baltrusch from China Minmetals Corporation said that, while the central Chinese government introduced new strict environmental rules in January this year, 70 percent of Chinese mills have already failed to comply with the new environmental regulations. He added that the environmental policies will not have an effect on prices in China because of the slow implementation and the focus being only on major cities with large populations.
 
Mr. Baltrusch pointed out that cooling down and transition of China's economy has caused a slowdown in the growth of domestic steel consumption and a more modest increase in capacities. Despite this more modest increase in capacities, exports are likely to rise as there is more potential for exports resulting from the gap between actual production and domestic consumption, he noted.
 
In response to question regarding rumors on the cancellation of the export tax rebate on chrome-added products as well, Baltrusch said he doubts the export tax rebate will be cancelled, saying he believes that the cancellation of the tax rebate on boron-added products will not have any effect on China's export volume.