2014-10-26

China Pukes Steel

Bloomberg: China Steel Mills Hawk Rebar on Alibaba to Export Surplus
Tangshan Donghua Steel Enterprise Group Co. in China was so eager for new customers overseas that it turned to cold-calling manufacturers and tried hawking metal on the e-commerce website run by Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.

A glut in the world’s biggest steel-making country means that prices for basic products like rebar used in construction have collapsed, so Tangshan Donghua is targeting buyers outside China who pay more. The company now ships as much as 40 percent of its output everywhere from Southeast Asia to South America to the Middle East, and wants to expand exports even further.

“We don’t make any profit selling here,” Wei Guotong, assistant to Tangshan Donghua’s general manager, said in an interview Sept. 22 at the company’s mill about 170 kilometers (106 miles) east of Beijing. “If we sell overseas, we can at least make some money, although not much.”

Xinhua: Steel exports unlikely to strain Sino-Latin American bond: Analyst
Rising steel exports from China into Latin America may slightly increase tensions between the region and the world's second-largest economy, but shouldn't have a major affect on the relationship, according to an analyst.

Alacero, or the Latin American Steel Association said last month that steel imports from China jumped 60 percent year-over-year in the first seven months of 2014. The trade group said Brazil, Chile and Central America were the main destinations for Chinese steel, but imports to Mexico are also rising rapidly. It urged a government response to the Chinese imports.
Nothing a few tariffs or currency devaluation can't solve, or anti-dumping duties.

FT: China steel exports disrupt markets
Chinese exports of steel were a record 8.52m tonnes last month, an increase of 73 per cent from a year earlier, according to customs data.

...But their action could trigger a backlash in the US, which recently approved anti-dumping measures against South Korea and other producers of steel pipes, as well as in Europe, where a steel industry case was filed in mid-May.

...Chinese exports are at record levels and global steel demand on a regional basis is nothing like record levels,” says Mike Shillaker, managing director of Global Steel and European miners at Credit Suisse.

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