China’s steel exports remained above 9 million tonnes in April, Bloomberg reported, a level likely to fuel concerns that excess capacity is forcing factories to dump the surplus overseas.
Steel is just one of many sectors escalating trade tensions as other countries raise concerns about China’s overproduction. Complaints from Washington and Brussels have focused on clean energy, where China has outpaced its foreign rivals. But Beijing’s failure to adequately deal with historic overcapacity in its steel industry, the world’s largest, is again coming to the fore as a lingering housing crisis curbs domestic consumption.
Customs data showed shipments reached 9.22 million tonnes last month, up 16.2% from a year earlier, on Thursday. Total shipments for the January-April quarter totaled 35.02 million tonnes, the highest since 2016 and up 27% year-on-year.
China’s steel imports totalled 658,000 tonnes last month, with total imports for the January-April quarter down 3.7% year-on-year to 2.41 million tonnes.
The crackdown on tax evasion, which has boosted overseas sales, could lead to a slowdown in steel exports in the next couple of months, according to Tomas Gutierrez, an analyst at Kallanish Commodities Ltd. But unless China cuts production, total steel exports this year could still exceed 1.5 million tonnes, a level last surpassed eight years ago, when the steel trade dispute was at its peak, he said.