In the first four months of 2009, China's steel imports totaled 4.85 million mt, down 14.7 percent year on year. Meanwhile, imports from Russia came to 261,000 mt, up 370 percent compared with the same period last year, while imports from Kazakhstan reached 213,000 mt, up 190 percent year on year.
In the January-April period, China's steel exports were 6.55 million mt, down 59.5 percent year on year, with a rising trend observed in exports to Africa and Kazakhstan and an obvious drop seen in the export volume to traditional export markets. During the period in question, exports to Africa rose 24.3 percent to 838,000 mt; exports to Kazakhstan reached 232,000 mt, twice as much as the same period last year. However, China's steel exports to South Korea were down 69.6 percent to 1.44 million mt; steel exports to the ASEAN countries amounted to 871,000 mt, down 77 percent; exports to the EU dropped 64.1 percent to 548,000 mt; and exports to the US reached 561,000 mt, down 43.8 percent.