China: Billet imports rise significantly; India emerges as the 2nd largest exporter

• Chinese billet imports increased over ten-folds to 5.27 mn t in H1 CY'20
  
  
• Imports from India amounted to ~1 mn t grabbing 2^nd position after Russia
  
  

During H1 CY20, the billet imports in China stood at 5.27 mnt registering a significant rise of approximately 11 folds CPLY. The rise in imports was due to the following reasons-

One of the prime reasons which have driven the billet imports in the country was the higher domestic prices.

Below table shows the comparison of domestic billet prices and imported billet prices-

COVID-19 outbreak- During Jan'20, the COVD-19 has started outbreaking in China, and by the end of Mar'20, the pandemic has hit all around the globe, while China has started recovering from the COVID. Since pandemic has badly affected the domestic markets of all the nations, the major billet exporting nations have upturned their focus towards exports, and hence from the data, we can see how Russia, India, and Iran became the major billet exporter to China during H1 CY20, from almost nil exports in H1 CY19.

Future outlook:

China is likely to remain active in importing billets because-

• According to market participants reported to SteelMint, the domestic billet prices in China are likely to remain high than global billet prices.
  
  
• The domestic billet market of the major importing nations like CIS and India is reviving at a gradual pace, so these nations are likely to remain active in the global billet market with sizeable dependency on China.