China doubles finished steel exports in 2006

SteelOrbis Shanghai According to the latest figures published by Chinese customs, China's finished steel exports for December broke the all-time monthly record, totaling 5.55 million mt - up 205 percent year on year and up 920,000 mt month on month. Imports, on the other hand, totaled 1.51 million mt, down 17.5 percent year on year and up 34,000 mt month on month. Accordingly, net finished steel exports for December totaled 4.04 million mt. Finished steel exports in 2006 totaled 43.01 million mt, more than doubling the figure of 20.52 million mt in 2005. Imports, meanwhile, totaled 18.51 million mt, down 28.3 percent from the 25,866,268 mt in 2005. Thus, net finished steel exports for 2006 came to 24.5 million mt. In December, semis exports totaled 500,000 mt, down 6.3 percent year on year and down 980,000 mt compared with November – due to the impact of China's new export tariff policy. Semis imports totaled 17,000 mt, down 77.3 percent year on year and down 4,000 mt month on month. As a result, net semis exports for December totaled 480,000 mt. Semi finished steel exports for 2006 totaled 9.04 million mt, up 27.9 percent year on year. Meanwhile, imports for the year totaled 370,000 mt, down 71.8 percent, resulting in net semis exports in 2006 of 8.67 million mt. From the above figures we see that combined net exports of semis and finished steel in December amounted to 4.52 million mt. This total is equivalent to 4.74 million mt of crude steel, down 70,000 mt month on month. Combined net steel exports for the whole year totaled 33.17 million mt, equal to 34.46 million mt of crude steel. China's iron ore imports in December increased seven percent year on year to 28.62 million mt, up 60,000 mt month on month. These figures represent an obvious slowdown in imports. Total iron ore imports for 2006 rose 18.6 percent year on year to 326.3 million mt. Incidentally, although the international iron ore price saw an increase of 19 percent for the 2006 fiscal year, the sharp reduction in freight costs caused a $2.7/mt decrease in the CIF price of ore imported into China. Coke exports in December totaled 890,000 mt, down 29 percent year on year and 700,000 mt compared with the previous month. Total coke exports for 2006 totaled 14.5 million mt, up 13.6 percent.