Reduced volumes of Chinese-produced steel have been going into the country's export markets throughout 2019 so far. So why is it that steel product prices remain under pressure in other global markets?
According to China's General Administration of Customs, in July 2019 the East Asian country exported 5.57 million tonnes of steel, including both semi-finished and finished material. This was down year on year from 5.89 million tonnes in July 2018. And the year-to-date total of 39.97 million tonnes of finished steel exports was also down by 2.9% year on year. It was not unusual that these year-on-year comparisons were negative. Similar annual comparisons were seen last year. And while the amount of the latest monthly decline has been indicated by other sources, which are perhaps less dependable, as being much larger, Fastmarkets calculates the difference to be around 5%.The strength of China's internal steel demand, its environmental commitments concerning new production, and the generally harsh export environment are leading to there being less Chinese steel available in non-Chinese markets. But that is nothing new.So why, then, are steel prices outside of...