The South East Asia Iron and Steel Institute (SEAISI) has stated that, despite all efforts, in 2015 steel products from China continued to swamp the global market with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries bearing the brunt of the flood of exports. Because of the intense competition arising from Chinese steel exports, many steel companies in the ASEAN region cut their outputs. In the first half of 2015, production of hot rolled steel products in the ASEAN region declined by 6.3 percent year on year.
According to the SEISI, in the January-November period of 2015 China’s steel exports to the global markets reached an all-time high of 101.74 million mt, up 21.7 percent year on year.
“As it turned out, the Chinese steel producers did switch to the adding of chromium to their steel products, allowing them to continue to enjoy tax rebate benefits. Already governments all over the world are stepping up their trade defenses against the threat of low-priced Chinese steel exports. The OECD reported that China is the number one target for unfair trade complaints, with some 65 cases opened against it during 2013 to October 2015,” said Tan Ah Yong, secretary general of the SEAISI. Commenting about the rumors that the Chinese government might remove the export tax rebate on chromium-added steel, Mr. Yong stated that, even if that were to happen, it would probably only provide short-term relief to the steelmakers around the world. The long-term solution lies in the ability of the Chinese government in solving the root cause of the problem, that is, the country’s chronic excess steel production capacity, as Mr. Yong emphasized.