In the wake of the Chinese government's recent announcement of its export tariff adjustments, new rumors have started to be heard in the market indicating that the government may restrict steel exports further through the application of a minimum export threshold.
According to the rumors, only mills and traders that exported at least 10,000 mt of steel in 2007 will be authorized to export steel in 2008. According to the previous rumors SteelOrbis reported on November 02, 2007, the minimum threshold was to be determined as 30,000 mt.
Calculated according to the new rumored threshold of 10,000 mt, the number of qualified steel exporters in 2008 may fall to around 500 from nearly 12,000 exporters in 2006.