According to the statistics released by the China Iron and Steel Association, China produced 7.42 million mt of shipbuilding plate in the January-July period this year, down 4.49 million mt or 37.7 percent year on year. In July, China's shipbuilding plate production reached 1.25 million mt, down 483,500 mt or 27.9 percent year on year.
The main reason for the sharp slump in China's shipbuilding plate production has been reported as the soft demand in the export market. In 2008, China exported seven million mt of shipbuilding plate, accounting for 34.8 percent of total domestic production and 88 percent of medium plate exports. However, this year, the country's exports of medium plate have plunged drastically. From January to July, China's total medium plate exports amounted to 1.51 million mt, down 69 percent compared with the same period last year.