PRC Steel Exports

摘要

Although the Handymax market has been most directly affected by rises and falls in Chinese steel export volumes since 2004, the importance of net export growth to overall steel production -and by extension iron ore imports -creates a double impact on the freight market. The chart to the right tracks the growth of PRC steel exports from very small monthly volumes in the 1 q04 to a peak of 8 Mt in April 2007 before tracing the subsequent de-dine to around 3 Mt by February 2008. The attractiveness of the export market to Chinese mills lessened from April 2007 as a result of (1) the introduction of various tax disincentives for exporters and (2) rising domestic steel prices.