Q4 Steel Exports Depend on Four Factors

China exported 36.24 million tons of crude steel in the first nine months of this year, an increase of 116.73 percent from a year earlier. Exports in the fourth quarter will depend on the following

- Whether overseas demand will continue to grow or not? Judging from the circumstances in the third quarter, the recovery, if any, in the world economy is still twisting fraught with intricacies.

- Whether the global steel market can be more balanced? There was a rapid increase in world steel output levels, with capacity utilization rates reaching 80 percent. Crude steel output is expected to fall back in the fourth quarter.

- Changes in exchange rate

- Trade protectionism such as tariff barriers, antidumping and countervailing charges.