China may introduce steel product export licenses

Beijing. April 25. INTERFAX-CHINA - China may introduce steel product export licenses in order to further control steel product exports, an industrial official told Interfax yesterday.

"If the government's current policies are seen to be ineffective in slowing exports, the central government is at present considering the introduction of a steel product export license system that would allow it to further supervise and control exports," deputy general secretary of the China Iron and Steel Association, Qi Xiangdong, said.


According to Qi, the central government may examine the qualifications of each steel product exporter before granting them an export permit license. In this way, each export contract would automatically be under direct government supervision and would allow the government to be aware of export prices, destinations and product export structures in a timely fashion.

The CISA has invited interested parties to discuss the feasibility of the policy with the association, he added.

China currently has an iron ore import license system that is used to organize iron ore imports and curb unwelcome competition in the domestic market.

Qi expects growth in China's steel product exports will begin to slow gradually in June this year as the government's steel product export tax rebates are withdrawn.

"However, the central government will closely monitor steel product exports over the next couple of months. If exports remain strong or fail to slow enough, then it is highly likely that it will implement stricter policies, including a licensing system," he said.

Qi predicted that the volume of billet and steel product exports will decrease by 10 million tons in total this year due to government regulation and a slowdown in domestic steel production.

However, a senior sales official with Inner Mongolia's Baotou Iron and Steel Group, who wished to remain anonymous, told Interfax that he doubted that steel product exports would fall too far this year as the price of Chinese steel products is still competitive in the international market.

"The current policies may cool exports in the short term, but I am sure that exports will rebound once the new prices, brought up by the cancellation of the export tax rebate, are accepted by the international market," he said.

He added that he had great confidence in the company's future export performance this year. Baotou Steel mainly exports steel products to Southeast Asian countries.

CISA's Qi predicted that domestic steel product prices will remain below those seen on the international market this year. He believes that the world's steel product prices will remain at a relatively high level as raw material costs increase and billet and scrap steel supplies are in short supply.

According to his prediction, China's crude steel consumption growth will stay between 10.97 percent and 14.22 percent this year, and that consumption will reach between 442 million and 455 million tons.

Based on current statistics derived from the first three months of this year, China will produce 475 million tons of crude steel during 2007, up 13.4 percent or 56 million tons from last year. Steel product output is predicted to hit 527 million tons, 12.85 percent or 60 million tons higher than that seen last year, according to Qi.

-IC





Best regards,
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
DONGGUAN JIEFU FLAME-RETARDED MATERIALS CO.,LTD
Sam Xu 许彪
Sales Engineer 　
Tel: 86-755-83474911
Fax: 86-755-83474980
Mobile:13929211059

E-mail: xubiao_1996@hotmail.com samjiefu@gmail.com
Add: jiefu industrial park shuiping industrail district dalang town dongguan GD,P.R.C
WebSite: http://www.jiefu.com
blog:http://jiefuantimonytrioxide.blogspot.com

Export: antimony ingots,ATO,dust free ATO,ATO masterbatches EVA80.EAV90;PE80,PE90,PVC85,PP80,ETC, other flame retardant masterbatches,
¤ ╭⌒╮ ╭⌒⌒╮
╱-◥██◣ ╭ ╭ 工作顺利！天天开心！ @-@
︱田︱田田| ╰----------------------
╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬