The import-export spread widened mainly because Chinese mills, driven by the lack of demand at home, sold overseas aggressively and at highly competitive offers to capture large chunks of the global market. As a result, China’s steel exports touched a six year high of 90 mnt in 2023, a y-o-y rise of 36%, and the highest since 2017. Affected by the reduced demand for domestic construction steel, China’s exports of steel bars, medium-thick and wide steel strips, hot-rolled strips, wire rods, small and medium-sized items and other steel products widely used in the construction industry increased significantly in 2023. In fact, steel bars exports rose 146% y-o-y and medium-thick and wide strips and hot-rolled strips by 97% and 78% respectively.
