1. The European Commission officially announced its decision on carrying out anti-dumping investigation against seamless steel pipe, medium/heavy plate and hot rolled flat steel imported from China, as well as implementing provisional anti-dumping against cold rolled plate.
MPI's comments: There are varied reasons leading to deterioration of world steel industry, which cannot lay the blame completely on China despite serious over capacity existed in Chinese market. It is necessary to be noted that China is doing best to remove over capacity and improve products quality, which will be favorable for the world steel industry for long term.
2. In January 2016, steel export from China was 9.74 million tons decreased by 5.35% year-on-year, and steel import was 930,000 tons decreased by 19.6% year-on-year.
MPI’s comments: More and more foreign countries will implement trade protection measures against Chinese steel products in 2016 i.e. higher import tariff will be imposed on Chinese steel. At present, export order of Chinese steel makers has already dropped. It is inevitable to see a sharp decline of Chinese steel export in 2016.