In 2019, China’s import volumes of the main finished steel products declined, though import shipments of steel bars increased.
In the given year, steel sheet/plate imports amounted to 10.32 million mt, down 7.1 percent compared to 2018, while angles/channels and steel pipe/hollow profile import shipments were at 280,000 mt and 330,000 mt, down 19.3 percent and 19.9 percent year on year, respectively, according to the monthly import and export data issued by the Chinese customs authorities.
At the same time, China’s import volumes of steel bars in 2019 amounted to 1.18 million mt, up 8.1 percent year on year. China’s issuing new local government bonds in advance exerted a positive impact on construction activities and thereby contributed to the positive growth of steel bar imports in the given year.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, in 2019 China imported 12.3 million mt of finished steel, decreasing by 6.5 percent year on year, 4.5 percentage points slower than the decrease rate recorded in the first 11 months of the year.