China’s steel sheet/plate exports totaled 22.22 million mt in the January-August period of the current year, down 17.3 percent year on year, according to the Chinese customs authorities.
In August alone, China exported 2.1 million mt of steel sheet/plate, down 31.7 percent year on year, down 17.6 percent month on month.
The relatively slack demand in overseas markets, the high levels of export prices and the firm trend in the local HRC market made exports difficult in August. The decreasing pace of steel sheet/plate exports was 12.5 percentage points faster in August than in July, while being 1.8 percentage points higher in the first eight months of the year compared to the year-on-year decline of 15.5 recorded in the first seven months of the year. However, by the end of the year exports of sheet will rebound from such low levels due to weaker-than-expected domestic demand, which has been seen in September in China.