China's finished steel exports fell 3.3% month-on-month in August to a six-month low of 9.51 million tonnes but saw a year-on-year growth of 1.6%, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs.
Total exports in January-August stood at 77.49mt, rising 10% from the same period last year, Kallanish notes.
Meanwhile, the total export value fell 1.1% y-o-y to $54.17 billion.
Imports rebounded to 500,000t in August, the sixth lowest level on record, from a record low of about 452,000t in the previous month.
Eight-month import volumes and value dropped 14.1% and 12.9% y-o-y respectively to 3.977mt and $6.752 billion.
As for iron ore and concentrates, China imported 105.225mt in August, an increase of 0.6% on-month and 3.8% on-year. The volume is second only to 105.948mt in June this year.
The average purchase price was $92.7/tonne in the reporting month, 1.4% higher than July but 9.7% lower than the year-ago level.
Between January and August, a total of 801.618mt of iron ore and concentrates was shipped to China, posting an annual decrease of 1.6%.
Meanwhile, total costs slumped 16.3% to $76.934 billion, indicating a 15% decline in the unit price of approximately $96/t.
Source:Kallanish
