SteelOrbis Shanghai
The latest data released by Chinese customs show that the country's July exports of finished steel totaled 5.94 million mt, up 2.36 million mt or 65.9 percent year on year but down 420,000 mt month on month. Meanwhile, imports of finished steel for July totaled 1.39 million mt, down 140,000 mt or 9.2 percent year on year and down 20,000 mt or 1.4 percent month on month.
Exports of semi finished steel for the month in question totaled 900,000 mt, up 70,000 mt or 8.4 percent year on year and up 150,000 mt or 20 percent month on month. Meanwhile, imports of semi finished steel in July totaled 10,000 mt, down 16,000 mt year on year and down 10,000 mt month on month.
From January to July, China's total exports of finished steel reached 39.73 million mt, up 19.06 million mt or 92.2 percent year on year. Imports of finished steel totaled 10.09 million mt for this period, down 850,000 mt or 7.8 percent year on year.
On the other hand, exports of semi finished steel in the January-July period totaled 5.27 million mt, up 1.34 million mt or 34.1 percent. Meanwhile, imports of semi finished steel for the period in question totaled 150,000 mt, down 90,000 mt or 37.5 percent.
In July, China's net exports of finished steel and semi finished steel stood at 4.55 million mt and 890,000 mt respectively, totaling 5.68 million mt of net crude steel exports. In the January-July period, China's net exports totaled 36.32 million mt of crude steel.
The coke exports in July totaled 980,000 mt, up 40,000 mt or 4.3 percent year on year; the cumulative exports in Jan-Jul period totaled 9.02 million mt, up 1.5 million mt or 20.1 percent.
The imports of iron ore for the same month totaled 33.61 million mt, up 8.87 million mt or 35.9 percent, and sharply up 6.71 million mt or 24.9 percent month on month. From January to July, the iron ore imports totaled 222 million mt, up 36 million mt or 19 percent compared with the same period last year.
According to the above data, due to the brisk demand in international market, the new export tariff still cannot block China's steel exports. The reduction in month-on-month growth of finished steel exports is mainly resulted from the excessively high exports of the previous month. As the overall export level is still at a relatively high position at present, indicating the failure of new export tariff in its aim, Chinese government may begin to think new measures to curb exports soon.