China continues to reduce billet imports

According to foreign sources citing the China Statistical Center, in October 2022, China received 417.55 thousand tons of billet from abroad. This was recorded as 26% less than in September. Iran and Russia are among the largest suppliers of these products.

In recent months, China has reduced its imports of semi-finished products. In the January-October period, local companies bought 4.62 million tons of crude steel from foreign suppliers. Compared to the same period of the previous year (9.32 million tons), it is more than two times lower.

In October, China bought products under contracts signed in previous months. In early October, Chinese companies stopped such deals as local prices were significantly lower than import prices. In addition, the production of fittings in the country fell, so the need for semi-finished products was significantly reduced.