ASEAN still tops Chinese steel buyers until Oct- CISA

Over January-October, ASEAN remained as the top buyer of Chinese steel products with the volume at 16.8 million tonnes, up 16.4% on year or accounting for 29.2% of China's total steel exports over the period, China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) shared in a post on November 30.

ASEAN countries seemed to prefer Chinese supplies among all the supply countries, Mysteel Global noted from the latest available data from the South East Asia Iron & Steel Institute (SEAISI) in late November.

In the first half of 2021, the ASEAN-6 countries including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, posted an 8% on-year growth in their overall steel imports though their net steel imports remained the same on year at 13 million tonnes due to higher production and higher exports too, according to SEAISI.

By region, EU and South America were the second and third largest buyers for the Chinese steel products with the latter posting a 107% on-year spike to 6.6 million tonnes over January-October, CISA shared.

The breakdown by country showed that Vietnam, Thailand, Philippine and Indonesia among the ASEAN-6 followed South Korea in the ranking of Chinese steel importers, with South Korea importing 6.5 million tonnes of finished steel from China, the CISA data showed.

Over the first ten months, flats remained the dominant products in China's steel exports with the volume at about 39 million tonnes, or 67.8% of the total, according to CISA, and China's flat steel exports increased much faster on year by 45% over January-October, or contributing to 92.5% of the on-year growth in China's total steel exports, according to CISA, as China's total steel exports approximated 57.5 million tonnes, or up 29.5% on year, as reported.

Among the all the flats, galvanized steel was the highest in China's steel exports or exceeding 13 million tonnes, and hot-rolled and cold-rolled products posted on-year growths at 111% and 87% respectively, far higher than the average growth.

Flats usually accounts for over half of China's steel sales to the ASEAN countries, Mysteel Global understands.

As for China's steel imports over January-October, Japan, ASEAN with Malaysia and Indonesia in particular and South Korea were top three suppliers with their volumes at 3.9 million tonnes, 2.8 million tonnes and 2.7 million tonnes respectively, or accounting for about 79.2% of China's total steel imports, and as for products, flats added up to 8.4 million tonnes, or about 71% of the total, according to CISA.

~ Written by Olivia Zhang, zhangwd@mysteel.com

~ This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.