Imported steel prices are directly affected by China.

The main market supplying iron and steel to businesses in the first 7 months of 2016 was China, accounting for 59% in volume and 56% in turnover.

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According to preliminary statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the volume and value of imported iron and steel in August 2016 increased again, bringing the total import value in the first 8 months of 2016 to an estimated 12.6 million tons and a value of 5.26 billion USD, up 27.3% in volume and 2.1% in value compared to the same period last year.

Iron and steel prices in August 2016 increased by 2.4% compared to the previous month but decreased by 7.37% compared to August 2015.

Statistics also show that the main market supplying iron and steel to businesses in the first 7 months of 2016 was China, accounting for 59% in volume and 56% in value, up 31% in volume and 3% in value over the same period last year.

The market with strong growth in volume and turnover is Russia, becoming the 5th main supplying market, after Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

However, these 4 markets only account for 38% in volume and 39% in value, so the general price movements of imported iron and steel are most affected by the price movements of imports from the Chinese market.

Compared to the previous month, import prices from the three main markets of China, Japan and Russia continued to increase by 1.43%, 1.78% and 2.4% respectively.

Compared to the same period last year, import prices from China decreased the least by 17.22% due to increased import prices in recent months, from Japan decreased by 18.3%, and from Russia decreased by 28.83%.

The two main iron and steel supplying markets are South Korea and Taiwan, with prices decreasing by 21.1% and 12.45% respectively.

The report also said that in the first half of this year, China exported a larger amount of steel than it produced in the same period last year, with 57.2 million tons of finished steel, equivalent to 14% of the nearly 400 million tons of crude steel the country produced in the first 6 months of the year, compared to 52.3 million tons in the same period in 2015. Thus, China is producing less but exporting more.

According to bizlive