The steel industry is an important foundational industry of the national economy. Steel exports are one of the important means for enterprises to increase profits and develop markets. Steel exports not only effectively utilize both international and domestic markets and resources, but also provide solid support for global infrastructure construction and manufacturing development. In recent years, the scale of China's steel exports has steadily increased, and the product structure has been continuously optimized, becoming a key link in connecting domestic and international dual circulation and maintaining the resilience of industrial and supply chains.
According to customs statistics, from January to November 2025, China's cumulative export volume of steel reached 108 million tons, with an export value of approximately 74.9 billion US dollars, covering more than 180 countries and regions worldwide. This fully reflects the positive trend of China's steel industry's deep integration into the global market and increasing position in the international supply chain.
However, there are also hidden concerns about the overall development of the steel industry, as some companies' "price for quantity" marketing model is unsustainable. This export strategy that relies on low price competition is highly likely to trigger trade remedy measures such as anti-dumping and anti subsidy from trading partner countries, which will affect the long-term development of the industry.
Therefore, promoting the transformation of steel exports from "scale expansion" to "value enhancement", moving towards higher levels and achieving sustainable development, is an inevitable requirement for the industry to serve high-quality development and build a manufacturing powerhouse. Only by actively optimizing product structure, enhancing technological content and service added value, can China's steel industry achieve stable and far-reaching development in the complex international economic and trade environment, and truly achieve a historic leap from large to strong.
On December 12th, the Ministry of Commerce announced the new regulations on the management of steel export licenses (Announcement No. 79 of 2025 by the General Administration of Customs of the Ministry of Commerce), which is one of the important measures to promote the high-quality development of domestic industries and optimize the international trade environment. Taking multiple measures together to achieve the following results:
1、 It helps enterprises to self regulate production, reduce internal friction games, promote the formation of a healthy competitive atmosphere in the industry that relies on technology and quality to win, and drive the upgrading and iteration of the industry. It can adapt to the upgrading needs of domestic high-end manufacturing industry and reduce dependence on external low-end markets.
2、 It helps enterprises focus on high-quality development and gradually establish an international reputation for "high quality and reliability". It not only consolidates traditional market share, but also promotes the export of high value-added products, enhances the international competitiveness of Chinese steel products, and opens up channels for China's high-end steel to enter the international market.
3、 Helps enterprises accelerate low-carbon transformation and better meet the requirements of the "dual carbon" goals. Low priced and low-end steel often comes with outdated production capacity in industries with high energy consumption and emissions. Improving export management will accelerate the transformation of the steel industry towards energy-saving and carbon reducing technologies such as electric furnace steelmaking and low-carbon processes.
4、 Helps companies to align with global market compliance and reduce trade disputes. Low price exports can easily trigger anti-dumping and anti subsidy investigations against Chinese steel by other countries. Strengthening export management is conducive to making China's steel exports more in line with WTO fair trade principles and reducing trade disputes. This measure can not only improve China's foreign trade environment and enhance the international credibility of its export products, but also inject positive energy into the stability of the global trade order, reflecting China's consistent position of practicing multilateral trade rules and supporting the construction of an open world economy.
