According to a new report issued by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), in 2016 China produced 700.74 million mt of pig iron, 808.37 million mt of crude steel and 1.13801 billion mt of finished steel, increasing by 0.7 percent, 1.2 percent and 2.3 percent year on year, respectively.
In December last year, China’s finished steel exports amounted to 7.8 million mt. Meanwhile, there are an increasing number of antidumping (AD) investigations against China’s steel exports, which will exert negative pressure on the domestic finished steel market from the supply side.
According to the CISA’s report, as of the end of December last year overall domestic inventories of the main finished steel products in China totaled 9.47 million mt, up 11.19 percent month on month and increasing by 9.84 percent compared to the beginning of the current year.
As also indicated by the CISA, at the end of December the average coking coal price in China indicated an increase of 151.2 percent compared to the beginning of last year, while the composite steel price index (CSPI) for the Chinese domestic market only increased by 76.53 percent over the same period, with negative pressure accordingly being exerted on the margins of steel producers. Against the backdrop of slacker demand for finished steel in China amid colder winter weather conditions, it is thought that finished steel prices in China will likely indicate some slight fluctuations in the coming period, as stated by the CISA.