In the January-July period of the current year, China’s import volume of steel sheet and plate amounted to 5.63 million mt, down 13.1 percent, 1.0 percentage point faster than the declining pace recorded for the January-June period this year due to the slacker demand for steel sheet from the automobile industry and slower demand for plate in the shipbuilding industry.
China’s import volumes of steel bars, angles/channels and steel pipes/hollow profiles amounted to 570,000 mt, 170,000 mt and 190,000 mt, down 11.3 percent, 22.9 percent and 20.7 percent year on year, down 0.5 percentage points, 0.6 percentage points and 0.8 percentage points, respectively, compared to the decrease rates recorded for the January-June period, according to the monthly import and export data issued by the Chinese customs authorities.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, in the January-July period this year China imported 6.664 million mt of finished steel, decreasing by 13.4 percent year on year, 0.7 percentage points faster than the decrease rate recorded in the first half of the year.