Chinese steel exports not yet restrained

Chinese steel mills establishing export outlets. Though exports of hot-rolled band to the United States have been limited by trade actions, the Chinese steel mills can export cold-rolled coil, galvanized coil and stainless sheet. Consequently, they are now identifying new trade channels and/or co-operation companies to gain access to the USA market. Until now, only a limited number of Chinese steel mills had established offices in the USA (Baosteel and Anshan Steel); however, we now expect that the number of offices will be increased (most of them will likely be located on the West Coast) given the current higher profits when exporting compared to the home market. As long as the world export price remains much higher than the Chinese home price, the mills will continue to export (but not HRB to the USA due to high tariffs reflecting prior trade cases). Anti-dumping activity is a concern for the government, but not for the mills particularly. So, it appears that exports of cold rolled coil, galvanized coil, stainless sheet and some long products to the USA may continue to increase. China will continue to export steel products to all markets where the prices are high enough to cover the freight and tax expenses and generate as high or higher profits than on sales in the domestic market. This is an excerpt from our new report series "Jinghai's Juxtapositions." To read the full report, visit our website at http://www.worldsteeldynamics.com/order_form/index.html to become a client.