Chinese steel imports drop first time in the last six years
China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) stated that
China's steel imports amounted to 18.04 million tons in the first half of the year, down by 457'400 tons compared to the same period of last year as the current steel price of all grades in the world market is higher than that in
China. This was the first decrease recorded in steel imports since 1998.
According to the data of CISA, the speed of steel imports dropped significantly in the second quarter. Steel imports were registered as 4.56 million tons in May and June, down by 1.96 million tons or by 30.3% compared to 6.53 million tons recorded in the same period of last year.
The industry specialists believe that steel imports declined due to the high steel price of the world market, besides the dwindling demand of domestic market.
Meanwhile, CISA officials pointed out that Chinese steel
production and
consumption will peak in 2010, despite rapidly increasing in the last two years.
It is also reported that countries' industrialization levels are very important to determine whether or not the country reaches the top in steel
consumption.
China is still in the process of industrialization. In 2005, the country will consume 250 million tons of steel and this figure will increase to 310 million tons in 2010.
Steel
consumption generally peaks in countries such as US,
Japan and
UK which completed their industrialization when the urbanization rate was to 65%. Chinese urbanization rate is only 37.7%.