China's stainless steel imports increased

China's stainless steel imports increased by 16.1% m-o-m to around 142,000 tonnes in May, down 38.3% y-o-y, according to data from Chinese customs.

Indonesia, Japan and South Korea were China's main sources of imports during the month, totalling around 130,000 tonnes.

At the same time, China's stainless steel exports totalled 352,000 tonnes, down 6.4% m-o-m and 27.7% y-o-y.

In the first five months of this year, accumulated imports decreased by 48.7% y-o-y to about 725,000 tonnes. Exports were 1.7 million tonnes, down 12.2% y-o-y.