China's H-beam to S.Korea limited to 0.5 mln mt

SteelOrbis Shanghai Negotiations between China's H-beam producers and their South Korean counterparts concluded yesterday with the consensus that Chinese H-beam exports to South Korean will be limited to 500,000 metric tons in 2007. It is estimated that by the end of 2006 China's H-beam exports to South Korea will have reached the elevated annual level of 800,000 metric tons. In fact, both sides had already discussed the issue on November 14 this year, but without coming to any positive result. At the November talks, South Korea had requested that Chinese H-beam exports to South Korea be restricted to 250,000 mt per year in the near future. However, China expressed its dissatisfaction with this. At yesterday's meeting, both parties also commenced discussions on South Korea's quota on wire rods and rebar from China. No agreement was reached on the issue. At the beginning of this year, Korean officials had urged China to limit its exports of rebar to South Korea to a monthly figure of 30,000 mt, but China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) had not accepted that figure. Therefore, this limitation could never be applied.