In October this year, China imported 1.025 million mt of finished steel, down 10.1 percent year on year, while down 7.9 percent month on month, according to Chinese customs data. Chinese companies have become more active in purchases of semis from abroad since late September, so far more deals for November-December delivery have been concluded. Moreover, in the finished steel segment, traders have been interested in imports of commercial HRC and wire rod with about 400,000-500,000 mt of these particular products booked for December shipment.
Traders in the Chinese market are still interested in steel imports as prices of Chinese steel are much higher than prices in the global market, and so active import activity may continue in the first quarter of 2020. Market sources in China have told SteelOrbis that they are prepared to import more finished steel in the future.
China imported 9.779 million mt of finished steel in the first ten months of the year, decreasing by 11.9 percent year on year, 0.3 percentage points slower than in January-September.