Chinese steel exports continue rise in October

SteelOrbis Shanghai The latest figures released by China's customs authorities indicate that Chinese finished steel exports continued their growing trend in October, totaling 4.25 million mt, up 216 percent year on year and 4.4 percent month on month. The cumulative exports from January to October reached 32.84 million mt, up 91.5 percent. Meanwhile, finished steel imports totaled 1.39 million mt, down 28 percent year on year and 12 percent month on month. The Jan-Oct cumulative imports of finished steel decreased 29.1 percent to 15.53 million mt compared with the same period last year. Thus, net finished steel exports in October amounted to 2.86 million mt, up 14.9 percent month on month. The cumulative net exports of finished steel reached 17.31 million mt from January to October. As regards semi finished steel, exports in October totaled 930,000 mt, up 485 percent year on year and down 13 percent month on month. Jan-Oct cumulative exports totaled 7.06 million mt, up 15 percent compared with the same period last year. Imports of semi finished steel totaled 20,000 mt in October, down 62 percent year on year and 33 percent month on month. Cumulative imports from January to October totaled 330,000 mt, down 71 percent. Thus, net exports of semi finished steel reached 910,000 mt in October, while cumulative net exports amounted to 6.73 million mt from January to October. The net exports of finished and semi finished steel totaled 3.77 million mt in October, that is, 3.95 million mt in crude steel, 260,000 mt more than the September figure. The Jan-Oct cumulative exports of finished and semi finished steel amounted to 24.04 million mt, totaling 25.14 million mt in crude steel. In October, China's iron ore imports saw a sharp drop, breaking their lowest monthly record. Imports reached 21.97 million mt, down 300,000 mt or 1.3 percent year on year, and down 6.17 million mt or 22 percent month on month. Therefore, in October, domestic iron ore price increased very much. Imports of iron ore from January to October amounted to 269 million mt, up 21.7 percent, but indicating a descending tendency. Chinese coke exports reached 1.32 million mt in October. The Jan-Oct cumulative coke exports increased 13 percent year on year to 12.02 million mt.