Fits and starts mark China steel buying in ‘new normal'

摘要

China's steel imports appear set to proceed in intermittent phases in the third quarter as the world enters a new normal in which returning waves of the coronavirus pose a constant threat to the nascent recovery in global steel demand. Beijing's measures to buoy its economy will likely continue to support domestic steel demand and sustain its appetite for imports in Q3. But even as this has cushioned regional steel markets from a hard landing, the uptrend in Chinese domestic demand and prices has not been spared from a brief punctuation when infections reemerged in the capital Beijing, recovering only after the virus was again bought under control.