In August this year, China’s import volumes of semi-finished steel amounted to 260,000 mt, up 269.5 percent year on year, 259.2 percentage points higher than the year-on-year increase rate recorded in July, according to the monthly import and export data issued by the Chinese customs authorities. The increase in August was connected with the hike in interest from Chinese traders in purchases of imported billet in July, as SteelOrbis reported previously.
China’s semi-finished import volumes are expected to stay at high levels in the October-November period, as Chinese traders have bought at least 260,000 mt billet from Qatar, Iran and Russia recently, while some sales for December shipment are under discussion at the moment.
In the January-August period of the current year, China’s import volumes of semi-finished steel amounted to 1.01 million mt, up 21.9 percent year on year, shifting from the decline of 42.8 percent recorded in the January-July period this year.