|
According
to Customs of China, China exported 4.85 million tons of steel in
December, imported 1.375 million tons of steel, making a 3.475 million
tons of net steel import. The combined export and import in 2020 was
53.671 million tons and 20.233 million tons, making a 33.44 million tons
of net export, a sharp decline of 35.7 percent compared to 51.99 million
tons of net export in 2019.
The
successive steel price hike in international market zoomed Chinese steel
export advantage. In steel export in December increased by 0.448 million
tons over November shipment, only following the shipment of 6.47 million
tons in March 2020 and 6.32 million tons in April 2020. Meanwhile, steel
import has narrowed, with a drop of 0.479 million tons from November, on
the downward trend since September 2020.
The
net export remained the case in finished steel products, while semis and
pig iron imports turned out to be net imports. In December, net import of
semis was 0.86 million tons. In the whole year, the semis net import
totaled 18.32 million tons, soaring by 542.3 percent on year over the net
import of 0.83 million tons in 2019.
In
December, pig iron net import was 0.61 million tons. The combined pig iron
net import came to 5.56 million tons, a spike of 487.12 percent on year.
Combined
with 33.44 million tons of net steel export and 23.88 million tons of net
import of semis and pig iron, the net import of iron and steel in 2020
finalized at 9.56 million tons.
Table
1: China Steel Import/Export in 2020
Quantity
in 10,000 tons
|
Steel
|
Dec. 2020
|
Nov. 2020
|
Dec. 2019
|
YoY %
|
MoM %
|
2020
|
2019
|
Change
|
YoY %
|
|
Import
|
137.5
|
185.4
|
148.3
|
-7.3
|
-28.2
|
2023.3
|
1230.4
|
792.9
|
64.4
|
|
Export
|
485
|
440.2
|
468.4
|
3.5
|
6.6
|
5367.1
|
6429.4
|
-1062.3
|
-16.5
|
|
Net export
|
347.5
|
254.8
|
320.1
|
8.6
|
32
|
3343.8
|
5199
|
-1855.2
|
-35.7
|
Source:
SteelHome Database, Customs
Table
2: China Semis and Pig Iron Import/Export in 2020
Quantity
in ton
|
Semis and Pig
Iron
|
Dec. 2020
|
Nov. 2020
|
Dec. 2019
|
YoY %
|
MoM %
|
2020
|
2019
|
Change
|
YoY %
|
|
Semis import
|
864675.3
|
1688985.2
|
863782.8
|
0.0
|
-0.5
|
18334613
|
829345.6
|
17505268
|
499.95
|
|
Semis export
|
897.1
|
9.4
|
3256.2
|
-0.7
|
94.4
|
17641.4
|
1219.8
|
16421.6
|
-42.35
|
|
Semis net
import
|
863778.2
|
1688976
|
860526.6
|
0.0
|
-0.5
|
18316972
|
828125.8
|
17488846
|
542.30
|
|
Pig iron
import
|
611561.3
|
638499.4
|
411887.8
|
0.5
|
0.0
|
5560230.1
|
203295.3
|
5356935
|
586.12
|
|
Pig iron
export
|
4
|
0
|
340.3
|
-1.0
|
|
1018.8
|
53.6
|
965.2
|
99.00
|
|
Pig iron net
import
|
611557.3
|
638499.4
|
411547.5
|
0.5
|
0.0
|
5559211
|
203241.7
|
5355969
|
487.12
|
Source:
SteelHome Database, Customs
From
table 3, Chinese steel export hit 112 million tons in 2015, also over 100
million tons in 2016, and then decreased to 75.42 million tons in 2017.
Thereafter, the shipment kept falling. Chinese government didn’t
encourage the steel export, and SteelHome ascribes following reasons for
the downtrend in export: 1) Chinese steel price has been heading up since
2015 when Chinese government implemented supply-side reform and dismantled
sub-standard steel production; 2) China sees the increasing demand in
domestic steel market, especially, central government strengthens domestic
circulation to stimulate local consumption; 3) the increasing anti-dumping
cases announced by India, Thailand, Europe and America etc. against
Chinese steel products, ending up with shrinking steel shipment to those
destinations; 4) Chinese mills prefer to selling at local market, only
using steel export as the leverage for supply/demand.
Table
3: Chinese Steel Export in 2016-2020
Quantity
in 10,000 tons
|
Steel
|
2020
|
2019
|
2018
|
2017
|
2016
|
2015
|
|
Import
|
2023.3
|
1230.4
|
1316.6
|
1329.8
|
1321
|
1278
|
|
Export
|
5367.1
|
6429.4
|
6933.6
|
7541.6
|
10843
|
11239
|
|
Net export
|
3343.8
|
5199
|
5617
|
6211.8
|
9522
|
9961
|
Source:
SteelHome Database, Customs
|
