China’s biggest listed steelmaker Baoshan Iron & Steel Co expects the country’s total steel exports to stay above 100 million metric tons in 2025, it said on Friday, while monitoring potential curbs on national steel output.
The company, known as Baosteel, is a subsidiary of the state-owned China Baowu Steel Group, the world’s largest steelmaker by output.
Steel exports will likely fall in the fourth quarter from the current high level, curbed by potentially higher export prices, new tax regulations and tariff barriers, Baosteel chairman Jixin Zou said at the company’s first-half results briefing on Friday.
China’s steel exports in the first seven months climbed 11.4% to hit a record high despite trade barriers being thrown up. Baosteel exported 4.83 million tons of steel in the same period, versus a total of 6.07 million tons in 2024.
“Currently, our monthly exports are still increasing, so we already have the capability of exporting 10 million tons of steel annually,” said Baosteel general manager Baojun Liu.
The company is targeting the capacity to export 15 million tons and 20 million tons of steel in 2026 and 2028 respectively, Liu said.
Additionally, Baosteel said it would closely monitor measures to cut steel output and the development of “anti-involution” policies in China to address perceived overcapacity in industry.
China’s top leadership pledged in July to crack down on a deflationary price war, sparking expectations of a nationwide supply reform in sectors plagued by overcapacity including coal and steel, which sent prices higher.
China will push to cut steel output between 2025 and 2026 as it tackles overcapacity that has hit prices and fed a worldwide protectionist backlash, Reuters reported.
Baosteel reported on Wednesday a 7.4% annual increase in first-half net profit despite soft domestic demand and lower steel prices.
(By Amy Lv and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Jan Harvey)
