In October this year, China exported 3.08 million mt of steel sheet/plate, up 26.3 percent year on year, while down 11 percent month on month, according to the Chinese customs authorities. This was the second month-on-month decline in a row, but a month earlier it was less than one percent.
In October, ex-China HRC export prices continued their downtrend amid decreasing HRC futures prices in China and prevailing cautious sentiments, with the lower prices expected to support export volumes in the December-February period. The increase in exports of steel sheet/plate was 27.8 percentage points lower in October compared to September.
China’s steel sheet/plate exports totaled 39.02 million mt in the first ten months this year, up 45.1 percent year on year, while this increasing rate was 1.8 percentage points slower compared to the year-on-year rise of 46.9 percent recorded in the first nine months this year.
