Chinese imports kept increasing in January 2003

Chinese imports kept increasing in January 2003

As per the official data released, it appears that Chinese steel import levels kept on increasing over 2002 figures in the first month of 2003. The data reveals that Chinese rolled steel product imports in January 2003 increased by 103% over January 2002 imports of 1.45 million tons and totalled 2.95 million tons. China imported in January 2003 1.54 million tons of sheets with a rise of 115.21%, 720'000 tons of coated sheet with a rise of 103.48%, and 410'000 tons of plate with a rise of 105.18% as compared to imports recorded in January 2002. The sheet imports accounted to 52.2% of the entire imported rolled steel quantity. The figure for exports from China on the other hand is 350'000 tons, increasing by 65.24% as compared to January 2002 figure of 210'000 tons. Meanwhile billet imports have decreased by 57.75%, lowering to 184'100 tons from past year same period's tonnage of 435'689 tons, due to the domestic production being sufficient to meet the demand in China.