China's steel exports fell in June to a four-month low, but still maintained high growth year-on-year, continuing the strong export trend.

According to data released on Monday by China's General Administration of Customs, finished steel exports declined 8.5% month-on-month but surged 10.7% on-year in June to 9.678 million tonnes.

Many market participants believe this does not reflect the impact of the implementation of anti-dumping measures on China's steel exports, but is just a normal seasonal decline as the m-o-m decline in June last year was as high as 9.2%.

Meanwhile, the y-o-y growth rate of 10.7% also showed a slight acceleration compared with a 9.8% growth in May.

As a result, Chinese exports in the first half of 2025 grew 9.2% on-year to 58.147mt – the highest first-half-year export tonnage in history, notes Kallanish.

Meanwhile, finished steel imports recorded a new historical low of 470,000t in June, taking H1 imports down 16.4% on-year to 3.023mt.

In terms of iron ore and concentrates, June imports rebounded by 8% on-month to 105.948mt. This is the highest monthly figure this year and 7.3% higher than the monthly average in the first half of the year.

In H1, China imported 592.205mt of iron ore and concentrates, down 3% on-year.