During his presentation at the SteelOrbis 2022 Spring Conference & 86th IREPAS Meeting held in Istanbul on May 29-31, Hüseyin Ocakçı, Middle East general manager of CIEC Group, discussed the situation in the Chinese market.
Mr. Ocakçı said that in 2021 China’s share of scrap usage in crude steel production totaled 10.68 percent, while the share in the European countries, the US and Turkey was approximately 55 percent, 70 percent and 85 percent, respectively. He also noted that the aim of China is to increase the use of scrap to reduce carbon emissions. The country is already investing in electric arc furnaces to convert from the blast furnace production route and it is expected to take the lead in reducing absolute emissions by halving them between 2021 and 2050.
根据他的介绍,澳大利亚、巴西nd South Africa remained the main iron ore exporters to China in the first three months this year. In the given period, Australia’s share in China’s iron ore imports increased to 65 percent from 61 percent in 2021, while Brazil’s share decreased to 19 percent from 21 percent, and South Africa’s share remained unchanged. As for coking coal imports, Russia, the US and Mongolia were the main exporters to China in the January-March period this year, with 27 percent, 21 percent and 17 percent shares, respectively.
China imported 9.43 million mt of billet in 2021, while the country imported 1.14 million mt of billet in the first three months this year, of which 140,000 mt was from the CIS. In 2021, China imported 1.52 million mt of slab, while in the January-March period this year the country imported 800,000 mt of slab, of which 427,000 mt of slab came from CIS countries.
According to his presentation, in the January-April period this year China’s steel consumption fell by 8.9 percent, while the country’s crude steel production also fell, by 10.3 percent to 336 million mt. In the first four months of the year, China’s total steel exports decreased by 29 percent to 7.3 million mt, while its steel imports fell by 11.8 percent to 950,000 mt. In the given period, China’s exports of flat steel, the largest export item, decreased by 28 percent year on year to 4.65 million mt. From January 1 to May 20 this year, China produced 62.81 million mt of HRC. The country exported 10.59 million mt of HRC last year, while its HRC exports totaled 2.96 million mt in the January-April period this year.
The CIEC Group general manager stated that the capacity utilization rate in China decreased slightly to 79 percent in the January-March period this year, from 79.2 percent recorded in 2021. Mr. Ocakçı also noted that inland transportation in China is becoming difficult due to pandemic-related restrictions, which may contribute to lower raw material input and in return may cause a reduction in output and finished steel inventory.
Meanwhile, regarding the real estate sector in China, Ocakçı stated that the sales in April this year fell to a record low, decreasing by 46.6 percent year on year. The main reason was the lack of new housing due to the effects of the pandemic, interrupted construction activities, and the difficulty in obtaining loans from banks.