Beijing, November 15th (Xinhua) - The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China stated on the 15th that China's long-term positioning of steel is mainly to meet domestic demand; The belief that China's steel overcapacity leads to trade disputes is unfounded and not objective.

Data shows that China's crude steel production from January to September this year was 795 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 1.7%. It is expected that the crude steel production for the whole year will remain basically unchanged year-on-year. From a consumption perspective, although the construction steel industry has slightly declined due to the impact of the real estate downturn, manufacturing steel has maintained growth, and China's steel consumption has remained basically stable.

The person in charge stated that China Steel's long-term positioning is mainly to meet domestic demand. For a long time, China's steel export ratio has remained around 5%, far lower than other steel producing countries such as Japan and South Korea. The growth of China's steel exports is the result of enterprises actively participating in international competition in accordance with the principle of marketization. China does not encourage steel exports, and the growth of steel exports by Chinese enterprises is a reflection of their market competitiveness.

In addition, the decline in steel prices is a global phenomenon rather than unique to China. Currently, global economic growth is sluggish, inflation is high in Western countries, global steel demand is recovering less than expected, and downward pressure on major market prices is increasing.

According to data from the General Administration of Customs, the average export price of Chinese steel from January to September was 985.7 US dollars per ton, a year-on-year decrease of 32.2%, but the price was not significantly lower than the market prices of other countries. For example, taking hot-rolled coils as an example, in September, the price of hot-rolled coils in the United States was $786.5, a decrease of 38.34% from the high point of $1275.5 in April this year; The EU's hot rolled coil prices in September were $690.7, a 26.05% decrease from the high of $934 in April this year.

"China's steel exports follow the rules of the World Trade Organization and the principles of marketization and rule of law, which is a normal trade behavior between enterprises. Some views believe that trade disputes caused by China's overcapacity are unfounded and objective.". (End)