Analysis of import and export of major metallurgical products in Mainland China from January to July

Mainland China's exports of steel fell year on year

In July, The Chinese mainland imported 2.606 million tons of steel, which was the highest monthly import volume since June. Imports of billet 2.613 million tons, 17,000 tons of steel ingot, equivalent to imports of crude steel about 5.345 million tons. In July, The Chinese mainland exported 4.176 million tons of steel. Since March this year, the trend of consecutive monthly decline in exports has changed. The export of billets and ingot totals 2,000 tons, which is equivalent to about 4.352 million tons of crude steel. Imports and exports offset, equivalent to the net import of crude steel 993,000 tons, crude steel net imports continued to increase compared with June.

In July, the average price of imported steel was US $664.0 / ton, down nearly US $100 / ton month-on-month, down 12.49% month-on-month, continuing to record the lowest level in nearly 10 years. The average price of exported steel was 872.7 USD/ton, and the average price difference between imports and exports narrowed compared with June.

From January to July, mainland China imported 9.948 million tons of steel, a year-on-year increase of 3.284 million tons, an increase of 49.3%. The import of steel billets was 8.150 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 7.405 million tons, an increase of 994.5%; Imports of steel ingot 44,000 tons, up 90.5% year-on-year. Equivalent to crude steel import of about 18.56 million tons. From January to July, the average price of imported steel in Mainland China was US $870.6 / ton, down 27.8% year-on-year. The average price of imported billet was US $434.3 / ton, down 37.5% year on year.

From January to July, The Chinese mainland exported 32.880 million tons of steel, a year-on-year decrease of 7.099 million tons, a decrease of 17.7%; Exports of billets and ingot totaled 13,000 tons, down 34.1% year-on-year. Equivalent to crude steel exports of about 34.26 million tons. From January to July, the average price of steel exported from the Chinese mainland was us $802.8 / ton, down 2.5% year on year.

Plate is still the main type of steel exported from the Chinese mainland

In July this year, the export volume of steel from the Chinese mainland changed from decreasing to increasing, except the export volume of pipe material and railway material showed a small decrease, the export volume of other main varieties of steel showed different degrees of increase. From January to July, the export volume of major steel products continued to decline on a year-on-year basis, and the average export price continued to decline on a year-on-year basis. In July, exports of coating board 621,000 tons, a month-on-month increase of 30.4%; The average price was $706.4 per ton, about the same as in June. The export of alloy rods and wires reached 380,000 tons, up 19.9% month-on-month; The average price was us $558.0 / ton, down 7.3% month-on-month.

Plate is still the main type of steel exported from the Chinese mainland, accounting for a year-on-year increase in the proportion of total exports. From January to July, the Chinese mainland's export plate accounted for 61.2% of the total exported steel, up 1.6 percentage points from 2019. In addition, the proportion of rod and wire exports dropped from 16.0 percent last year to 13.4 percent this year.

Asean and the Middle East remain the main export destinations of The Chinese mainland, while Africa has surpassed South Korea to become the third largest export destination of the Chinese mainland. From January to July, The Chinese mainland exported 19.209 million tons of steel to the three regions, down 11.3% year on year, accounting for 58.4% of the total steel exports. From January to July, The Chinese mainland exported 3.713 million tons to Africa, basically the same as last year. Among them, exports to Egypt reached 381,000 tons, up by 32.0% year on year. Exports to Ghana were 346,000 tons, up 35.9% year on year; Exports to Kenya amounted to 233,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 37.6%. From January to July, exports of steel to South Korea reached 3.690 million tons, a cumulative year-on-year decrease of 1.556 million tons, a decline of 29.7%.

Thin gauge hot rolled coil was the type with the largest monthly increase in imports

During the epidemic, overseas steel enterprises did not suspend production as fast as their demand dropped, which led to lower product prices and increased willingness of traders and downstream enterprises to purchase imported products, which promoted the continuous growth of import volume. In July, the average price of steel imports was $664.0 per ton.

Thin-gauge hot-rolled coil is the type with the largest monthly import increase and the largest monthly import volume. In July, the import of ordinary hot rolled sheet (roll) was 1.206 million tons, an increase of 284.1 percent month-on-month, accounting for 46.3 percent of the total monthly import volume. The average import price was US $405.0 / ton, up 0.4% month on month. From January to July, imports reached 2.483 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 476.3%; The average import price was US $426.6 / ton, down 32.8% year on year.

Rebar (3714, -27.00, -0.72%) import volume increase and price decline continued. In July, imports of rebar steel reached 153,000 tons, up 2.9 percent from the previous month. The average import price was US $402.2 / ton, down 1.0% month on month. From January to July, imported 627,000 tons of rebar steel, a year-on-year increase of 4576.5%; The average import price was US $412.8 / ton, down 38.7% year on year.

Imports from South Korea are still rising, after overtaking Japan in June as the biggest source of steel imports from the Chinese mainland. China imported 599,000 tonnes of Steel from South Korea in July, up 4.5 per cent from the previous month. From January to July, The Chinese mainland imported 2.882 million tons of steel from South Korea, up 33.6 percent year on year. The Chinese mainland imported 578,000 tons of steel from India in July, up 121.9 percent month-on-month. From January to July, The Chinese mainland imported 924,000 tons of products, mainly hot rolled sheet with thin specifications. India has overtaken Taiwan to become the mainland's fourth largest source of imports. Affected by the backflow of products from overseas investment enterprises, the import from ASEAN continues to grow substantially. From January to July, The Chinese mainland imported 849,000 tons of rods and wires from Malaysia, with a year-on-year increase of 81,039.9%. The main variety of the increase in mainland China's imports from Indonesia is medium thick plate, with 173,000 tons imported from January to July, with a year-on-year increase of 1,0395,607.3%. Imported stainless plate (belt) 159,000 tons, a year-on-year decline of 23.8%.

Billet imports from Mainland China continue to grow

From January to July, the imports of billets from the Chinese mainland continued to grow, with 4.403 million tons of billets imported from India, Russia, Vietnam, Iran and Malaysia, with a year-on-year growth of 3809.9%. Imports of common slab reached 2.872 million tons, up by 12.90.5% year-on-year, mainly from Russia, Vietnam, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates and Brazil. The average import price of flat billet was US $386.5 / ton, a year-on-year increase of 6.4%; The average import price of common slab was US $380.1 / ton, down 13.4% year on year.

In July, the Chinese mainland imported 2.613 million tons of steel billets, the import volume gradually stabilized, the month-on-month growth range narrowed to 5.2%. Among them, the import of square billet was 1.345 million tons, down 9.3% month-on-month; Imports of common slab reached 941,000 tons, up 31.7 percent month-on-month. By country, the quantity of pubillet imported by Mainland China from Vietnam and Malaysia increased significantly, to 187,000 tons and 156,000 tons respectively, up 134.5% and 35.2% month-on-month. The increase of imported common slab mainly comes from Russia, Indonesia and Brazil.

From January to July, China imported 659555,000 tons of iron ore (848, -5.50, -0.64%) from the mainland, with a year-on-year increase of 11.8%. The average import price was $91.3 / ton, up 0.8% from a year earlier. Of these, 41.942 million tons were imported from Australia, up 10.9% year on year, accounting for 63.7% of China's total iron ore imports. Imports from Brazil were roughly flat year-on-year at 11.5165 million tonnes, accounting for 17.5 per cent of China's total iron ore imports. Iron ore imports from India, Ukraine and Russia continued to increase, with year-on-year increases of 117.2%, 135.0% and 169.0% respectively.

From January to July, The Chinese mainland imported 15.743 million tons of manganese ore, down 16.1% year-on-year. The average import price was US $158.0 / ton, down 20.8% year on year. The import of chrome ore was 7.996 million tons, down 8.4% year on year; The average price was US $141.70 / ton, down 19.2% year on year.

From January to July, mainland China imported 45,543,000 tons of coking coal (1266, -5.00, -0.39%), a year-on-year increase of 3.6%. The average price was us $129.40 / ton, down 9.8% year on year. Imported coke (2008, -7.00, -0.35%) 1.155,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 866.1%; The average price was $227.2 per ton, up 3.5% from a year earlier.

From January to July, The Chinese mainland imported 2.452 million tons of pig iron, up by 11,188.4% year on year. The average import price was US $354.2 / ton, down 22.5% year on year; Mainly from Brazil, Russia, India and Ukraine. From January to July, The Chinese mainland imported 2.090 million tons of direct reduction iron and other sponge iron blocks, with a year-on-year increase of 362.1%. The average import price was us $288.9 / ton, down 5.7% from a year earlier. This was mainly from Russia, Venezuela, Malaysia and the United States, where imports of 148,000 tons in July from the United States rose 185.4 percent month-on-month.