China's Net Import of Steel Not to Last Long, Experts

BEIJING, May 13 -- China has been a net importer of steel for two straight months, but the situation will not last long, according to Li Xinchuang, vice director of China Mercury Industry Planning Institute.

    The net import may be attributed mainly to the steel price difference between the domestic market and the international market, which is just a temporary issue, said Li.

    China's net import volume of steel products amounted to 210,000 mt in April, and that of billet, 670,000 mt, according to Custom statistics.

    The country exported 1.41 million tons of steel products in April, down 70.5 percent year on year, while its import volume increased by 7.77 percent to 1.62 million mt. It did not import billet in this month.

    At present, billet FOB in some markets abroad ranged from USD 330/mt to USD 350/mt, while it stayed at USD 420/mt on the domestic market.

    An analyst believes that the country's steel import growth is reasonable, but the export dropped too fast, leading to the net import.

    It is predicted that the growth of steel import will slow, as product prices on the international market gradually recovered, coming closer and closer to the domestic price. Besides, Chinese producers will be able to reduce costs, after using up the stockpile of high-price iron ore.

    Su Lifeng, researcher from Guoyuan Securities, said that China's raise of export rebate rate in March hadn't reached the expectation of the industry, so the rate can be further adjusted up as the steel export continued to decline.

    (Source: chinamining.org)