On November 14th 2015, Tangshan Songting Steel Plant officially announced the shutdown due to heavy loss since the beginning of 2015. According to the financial report released by this plant, Songting has lost 474 million yuan from January up to September with debt ratio of 161.37%.
MPI's comments: Currently many Chinese steel plants are struggling to survive. Due to weak demand of domestic market, heavy loss of the whole industry and continuous downturn of steel price, other steel companies similar as Songting, a private company with annual capacity of 5 million tons will be possibly to be closed. Chinese steel industry is expected to eliminate overcapacity, which will be an inevitable development trend over the coming year
According to the latest statistics released by General Administration of Customs of the PRC, steel export from China was 9.02 million tons in October 2015 decreased by 2.23 million tons with 19.8% drop month-on-month.
MPI’s comments: There are many reasons causing export drop in October such as national holiday in China, intensified anti-dumping and weak demand in overseas market. Although criticized by other foreign countries, growth of steel export from China exactly reflects the strong competitiveness of Chinese steel product in the international market.
