China's steel exports reached 9.98 million tonnes in November 2025, up 2.0 percent on the month and 7.5 percent on the year, according to data from the General Administration of Customs released on 8 December. The November total pushed exports for the first eleven months of the year to 107.72 million tonnes, up 6.7 percent on the same period of 2024 and already past the 100 million tonne mark with a month still to go. The surge came as weak domestic demand, above all the continuing property downturn, left mills with metal they could not sell at home, while competitive export prices kept overseas buyers interested. Hot-rolled coil export offers to the Middle East slipped by 19 dollars a tonne on the month to about 482 dollars a tonne on a cost-and-freight basis for the United Arab Emirates. With monthly shipments holding above 9 million tonnes since March, market forecasts put the full-year total at 116 to 118 million tonnes, which would beat the previous record of 112.4 million tonnes set in 2015. China imported just 496,000 tonnes of steel in November, remaining a large net exporter.
Source: SteelMint — https://www.steelmint.in/china-steel-exports-rise-8-y-o-y-in-nov25-amid-weak-domestic-demand-704034
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (freely licensed).