The risks that the Chinese government will introduce export duties on steel products will increase if export volumes surge when prices stabilize again after the recent decline, market sources told Fastmarkets over the week to Friday November 19.
"A sharp rebound in export volumes will draw attention from the central authorities," a Shanghai-based trader said.
Fears have emerged that the Chinese government will impose export duties on steel products after the value-added tax rebates for hot-rolled coil exports and for cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized coil exports
were removed on May 1 and August 1 respectively.
These concerns have been hanging over China's steel export market and
reducing the buying interest for Chinese materials.
In October, China's exports of steel products fell by 423,000 tonnes (8.6%) from September, to 4.50 million tonnes, making it the fourth consecutive month to show a decline, according to data from the country's General Administration of Customs. Despite this, exports were still 11.3% higher than in the corresponding month of last year.
"[Chinese] steel exports are now like gambling, [because] you never know when the export...