Sluggish steel demand in China, the world’s largest consumer of the metal, resulted in 40% of mills to cut output or forced plants into maintenance mode this year. The China Iron and Steel Association said at a press conference on Tuesday that domestic prices of hot-rolled coil dropped for seven straight weeks prior to July [...]
China will remove rebates on export taxes for certain commodities, including steel exports and fertilizers. The end of rebates follows the imposition of duties by the US Department of Commerce on imports of Chinese-made steel drill pipe after it ruled that Chinese steel producers enjoy unfair subsidies. Exports of Chinese steel products rose 127% year-on-year [...]
The State Council has issued a policy statement calling for more rapid closures of old and inefficient factories and power plants. In the third such statement since October, the State Council gave specific targets for plant closures in the electricity, coal, coke, ferro-alloy, calcium carbide, steel, non-ferrous metal, construction materials, paper, ethanol, tannery and textiles [...]
China’s major steel mills have not agreed to an interim iron ore price deal with BHPÂ Billiton, denying earlier reports of such an agreement. According to a source from a major state-owned steel mill, no price has been agreed between Chinese mills and any of the big three iron ore suppliers – BHP, Rio Tinto and [...]
The four Rio Tinto employees detained by Chinese authorities in July will be prosecuted on charges of bribery and violating commercial secrets. Prosecutors allege that the four men, including Stern Hu, an Australian national, on multiple occasions solicited and accepted huge bribes from several Chinese steel firms and used improper means to obtain Chinese commercial [...]
The China’s Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) said it had opened an anti-dumping investigation into US steel imports. The announcement came after seven US steelmakers and the United Steelworkers Union brought an anti-dumping suit against China in April. MofCom said the new case would determine whether US and Russian firms had sold a specialized kind of [...]
China’s steel industry expects a surplus of iron ore and falling prices in the global market next year, as the global economic crisis slows economic growth and orders from steel makers. “It’s clear where iron ore prices will be going,” said Liang Shuhe, deputy director of foreign trade at the Ministry of Commerce, at a [...]
China’s import growth slowed for a second straight month in September as the country’s trade surplus rose 12% year-on-year to US$82 billion. The recent decline of global commodity prices after a surge earlier in the year is likely responsible for some of the import slowdown, but it may also be a sign that China’s economy [...]
Several large Chinese steelmakers are set to reduce output by about 20% in October to reinforce falling steel prices, citing state media. Shougang Steel, Shandong Iron and Steel, Hebei Iron and Steel and Angang Steel met last week to discuss cuts in production of up to 20 million tons. Steel prices have suffered from a [...]
Iron ore trading company Sinosteel has received approval to purchase up to 49.9% of Murchison Metals, an Australian miner. The stake would be worth US$202 million based on Murchison’s most recent trading price. When announcing the approval, Australia’s Treasurer Wayne Swan said Sinosteel had originally sought to acquire up to 100% of Murchison but then [...]
