ASEAN Still Tops China Steel Buyers List

In January-October, ASEAN remained the largest buyer of Chinese steel products with a volume of 16.8 million tons, up 16.4% year-on-year or 29.2% of China's total steel exports for the period, China Iron & The Steel Association (CISA) shared in a post on Nov 30.



ASEAN countries appear to prefer Chinese supplies among all supplying countries, Mysteel Global notes based on the latest available data from the Southeast Asian Iron and Steel Institute (SEAISI) in late November.

In the first half of 2021, ASEAN-6 countries, including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, posted an 8% increase in total steel imports over the same period last year, although their net steel imports remained at 13 years. million tons through increased production and exports, according to SEAISI.

By region, the EU and South America were the second and third largest buyers of Chinese steel products, with the latter showing 107% year-on-year growth to 6.6 million tonnes in January-October, CISA reported.

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

According to CISA, during the first ten months, flat products remained the dominant product in steel exports from China with a volume of about 39 million tonnes, or 67.8% of the total, and flat products from China grew much faster than last year. by 45% compared to January. According to CISA, in October, or 92.5% annual growth in total steel exports from China, as total steel exports from China amounted to about 57.5 million tons, or 29.5% more than last year.

Among all rolled products, galvanized steel was the highest in steel exports from China, exceeding 13 million tonnes, while hot rolled and cold rolled steel grew 111% and 87% year on year, respectively, well above the average growth.

Mysteel Global understands that flat products typically account for more than half of China's steel sales to ASEAN countries.

In terms of steel imports to China in January-October, Japan, ASEAN, in particular Malaysia and Indonesia, and South Korea were the top three suppliers with volumes of 3.9 million tonnes, 2.8 million tonnes and 2.7 million tonnes. Tons, respectively, or about 79.2% of imports. According to CISA, the total volume of imports of steel and rolled products to China amounted to 8.4 million tons, or about 71% of the total.