According to the data released by the General Administration of Customs, in the first half of the year, China imported 5.822 million tons of steel, down 12.71% year-on-year; imported slabs of 506,800 tons, steel ingots of 14,700 tons, and billets totaling 521,500 tons; equivalent crude steel imports of about 6.59 million tons. In the first half of the year, China exported 3,439,500 tons of steel, down 2.60% year-on-year; exported 12,900 tons of steel billets, 0.05 million tons of steel ingots, and a total of 13,400 tons of billets; equivalent to 35.85 million tons of crude steel exports. In the first half of the year, China's cumulative net export of crude steel was about 29.26 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 0.34%.

In terms of the amount, in the first half of the year, the average price of China's steel imports was 1,193.37 US dollars / ton, down 5.30% year-on-year; the average export price was 814.62 US dollars / ton, down 5.51% year-on-year.

Analysis of steel product trade and response

As of the end of August, foreign countries have initiated eight new trade remedy investigations on China's steel products this year. Among them, there were 7 anti-dumping investigations and 1 investigation of safeguard measures. The countries or regions that initiated the investigation included the European Union, India, Australia, Malaysia, Egypt, Ukraine and Mexico.

In the first half of the year, China's tariff code 7206-7306 exported 339,900 tons of products to the United States, with an export value of 506 million US dollars. The 303 tariff numbers currently listed in the United States do not yet contain all products under 7206-7306.

In the context of trade, stabilizing other countries and regions is of great significance to China's steel exports. Since the beginning of this year, the number of trade remedy investigations initiated by other countries and regions on Chinese steel products has fallen sharply year-on-year, and trade tensions between China and ASEAN and South America have eased. At the same time, the China Iron and Steel Association organized a number of trade remedy cases to achieve good results: in the EU steel security measures survey, the main export products obtained country quotas; Turkey steel security measures survey, Costa Rica rebar safeguard measures investigation without damage; The Eurasia Economic Commission's investigation of the sheet guarantee measures excluded all the products involved in China and agreed to negotiate price negotiations with the Chinese side in the anti-dumping investigation of galvanized sheets. In the first half of the year, China exported 2.85 million tons of steel to the above countries or regions. The favorable results achieved through the case response have played an important role in protecting China's export market.

Analysis of steel imports

In the first half of the year, the top three countries or regions in China's steel imports were Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Imports of steel products from the above three countries or regions were 4,861,400 tons, down 9.17% year-on-year; accounting for 83.49% of total imports. It increased by 3.25 percentage points year-on-year. Among them, imports from Japan were 2.4018 million tons, down 12.87% year-on-year; imports from South Korea were 1.865 million tons, down 0.27% year-on-year; imports from Taiwan were 594,400 tons, down 18.06% year-on-year.

From the perspective of imported varieties, the varieties with a significant decline in the number of steel imports are mainly stainless steel billets and stainless steel hot rolled coils and galvanized sheets. In March, China initiated anti-dumping preliminary investigations on stainless steel billets and stainless steel hot coils originating in Japan, South Korea, the European Union and Indonesia. Since then, the import volume of the products involved has dropped significantly. Since the average price of imported products is higher than that of ordinary carbon products, the significant drop in import volume is also one of the important reasons for the decline in the average price of steel imports. In the first half of the year, China imported a total of 93,600 tons of stainless steel billets, down 73.78% year-on-year; imported stainless steel hot rolled coils of 260,600 tons, down 50.95% year-on-year; imported galvanized sheets of 913,800 tons, down 21.81% year-on-year. Among them, the number of galvanized sheets imported from Korea, Japan and Taiwan has both decreased by more than 20%.

Analysis of steel exports

In the first half of the year, the top three countries or regions in China's steel exports were ASEAN, South Korea and the Middle East, exporting 1997.21 million tons of steel products to the above three countries or regions, down 2.13% year-on-year; accounting for 58.06% of total exports. It increased by 0.28 percentage points year-on-year. Among them, 11.44 million tons of steel were exported to ASEAN, down 9.52% year-on-year; exports to Korea were 4.5715 million tons, up 21.32% year-on-year; exports to the Middle East were 3.958 million tons, down 0.85% year-on-year.

In the first half of the year, the top five countries in China's steel export rankings were South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. The total exports of steel products to the above five countries were 13.3822 million tons, up 1.93% year-on-year; accounting for 38.90% of total steel exports, accounting for a year-on-year. Increase by 1.73 percentage points.

In terms of varieties, in the first half of the year, China exported 5,455,500 tons of rod and wire, down 23.61% year-on-year; exports plate was 20.6711 million tons, up 2.63% year-on-year; export pipe was 4.737 million tons, up 7.44% year-on-year. Steel exports have three characteristics: one is the change in the export structure of the sheet, the second is the continuous decline in the export of rod and wire, and the third is the increase in the export of pipes.

Exports of galvanized and coated sheets increased. In the first half of the year, China exported 5.0514 million tons of galvanized sheets, an increase of 18.83% year-on-year, and galvanized sheet exports accounted for 24.44% of the total plate exports. Galvanized sheets have seen a large increase in exports to ASEAN, the EU and Africa. In the ASEAN countries, China exported 561,600 tons of galvanized sheets to Thailand in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 69.27%. Affected by the EU's steel security measures quota on a first-come, first-served basis, in the first half of the year, steel companies concentrated their exports before May. The growth of exports to Africa was mainly reflected in the increase in the export volume of corrugated-shaped plates. The cumulative exports in the first half of the year were 201,100 tons, an increase of 100.68%.

In the first half of the year, China exported 3.312 million tons of coated sheets, an increase of 15.86% year-on-year, and coated sheets accounted for 15.97% of the total plate exports. South Korea’s shipboard imports have increased due to a significant increase in shipbuilding completions. In the first half of the year, China exported 341,200 tons of other coated sheets to South Korea, an increase of 206.45% over the same period last year. At the same time, the new IMO regulations require that the upper limit of the sulfur content of marine fuels be reduced from the current 3.5% to 0.5% by 2020. In order to meet the requirements of the new regulations, a large number of ships began to install marine scrubbers this year. The demand for steel for shipbuilding has increased, and the number of other coated panels exported to Southeast Asia and the Middle East has increased.

Bar and wire exports continued to decline. In the first half of the year, China exported 2,592,100 tons of hot-rolled alloy steel rods, down 31.05% year-on-year; exported 226,200 tons of steel bars, up 37.87% year-on-year; exported hot-rolled alloy steel wire rods, 200,200 tons, down 11.84% year-on-year; The number was 506,600 tons, down 40.51% year-on-year; the export angle profile was 1,580,100 tons, down 5.34% year-on-year.

Pipe exports have grown. In the first half of the year, China exported 4,737,300 tons of pipes, a year-on-year increase of 7.44%. Among them, the export seamless pipe was 2,179,400 tons, an increase of 13.01%; the export welded pipe was 1,963,300 tons, an increase of 3.04%.(From Csteel)