According to data from the General Administration of Customs on March 7, China exported 12.19 million tons of steel from January to February 2023, an increase of 49% over the same period last year, an increase of 10.9% from November and December, and an average monthly export volume of 8.5% higher than last year. . At the same time, the cumulative import volume of steel products in January and February was only 1.231 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 44.2%, hitting a new low in nearly 20 years. As Christmas and New Year approaches, buying in the Southeast Asian market recovers slightly, and there is a certain demand for stock replenishment, especially for thermal panels. On the one hand, the export price level of Chinese steel mills has increased steadily, and the room for bargaining has decreased. On the other hand, the export resources of Japan, India, Russia and other places have decreased, and the prices have also risen accordingly. China and South Korea have become relatively active export resources in the Asian market. At the end of December, the FOB price of China's hot-rolled common coils is about 590-610 US dollars / ton FOB, the price of similar resources in South Korea is almost the same. Since the Pohang factory has gradually resumed the remaining plate production lines since December, and started to receive export orders before that, it also restrained my country's export orders to a certain extent.

In general, this is partly due to the low export volume last year (lower than in previous years) and the fact that the overseas price increase at the end of December was greater than that at home, which promoted export orders, resulting in a 49% year-on-year increase in export orders in January and February this year. The month-on-month increase was about 10%, mainly due to the heavy export volume in February.

After the Spring Festival, China's steel export orders continued to be good. Since last week, most steel mills have entered the May shipping schedule. It is expected that the export volume in March and April will further increase compared with that in February. Judging from the current order level, the export volume in May will remain at a relatively high level.