China exported 11.4 million tonnes of flat steel products over January-March, or up 29% on year, according to the latest detailed statistics from the country’s General Administration of Customs, which accounted for 64.5% of the country’s total finished steel exports, confirming the strong demand and pricing competitiveness from the overseas markets, market sources noted.
In the first quarter, flat steel had remained the core products, and the gain for such products was much higher than the 24% on-year gain in China’s overall steel exports, and in tandem with higher exports volume, the average export price of the flats was at Yuan 5,068/tonne ($779.7/t) for Q1, or up 5.8% on year, Mysteel Global calculated based on GACC’s latest data.
China’s Q1 steel exports were to fulfil the contracts signed at the end of last year or the start of this year, when “overseas demand has been steadily picking up while domestic demand has eased in the cold winter,” a Beijing-based analyst commented.
The persistent undersupply in the overseas market and the continuing widening in the steel price gap between China and foreign countries may lead to higher flat steel exports both in volume and prices in Q2, he predicted.
Steel prices especially that of hot-rolled coils in Europe and the U.S. have been “skyrocketing”, and the ongoing speculation on China’s export tax rebate cuts have pushed Asian (flat steel) prices to new highs, he noted, which has enabled most of the Chinese steelmakers to raise their export prices by taking into consideration of the possible 13% export tax rebate removal from steel products such as HRC.
But even with a 13% increment, Chinese steel products are still one of the most competitive supplies in prices in the global steel market, he added, and exports, thus, are very likely to grow further.
Some Chinese mills, thus, have raised their offering prices of SS400 4.75mm HRC to $900/tonne against around $650/t at the end of January, or before the rumour on the rebate cuts emerged in the market, Mysteel Global noted. The prices are in FOB China.
In comparison, the South Korean steel mills were offering HRC of the equivalent quality at $950/t FOB, while the Japanese HRC was offered at $1,000/t CFR ASEAN, both on April 19, according to Mysteel’s assessments.
Over January-March, China’s steel bar exports totalled 3 million tonnes and wire rod 510,000 tonnes, up 46.7% and 23.5% on year respectively, while sections exports went down 13.9% on year to 750,000 tonnes, GACC’s data showed.
Written by Olivia Zhang, zhangwd@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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