From recent news, China government announced that the cancellation of rebates for over 147 steel products categories. The official description this act is trying to increase the cost of some manufacturers lead to a increase of overall price which lower the competitiveness of these products. The act lowers exports of raw steel product which then reduce CO2 emission toward the goal of 2048 negative Co2 emission. Taking a close look to the canceled products you will find most of them are low technology requirement and high energy consuming.

The steel product exporting of hot rolled coil, wire rod, re-bar, cold rolled steel sheet, hot-dip galvanized sheet and narrow strip are all under the remove of rebates. In separate announcement, the ministry also cut the import duty on pig iron, crude steel and recycled steel. To further express these change of acts, we can see that China is trying to increase the steel import and lower the exports. China is a fast developing by having the worlds largest infrastructure constructions locate everywhere in the country. The construction requires large amount of steel. Due to recent metal price sky rocking, China is trying to calm down the price raise inside China to keep the infrastructure going.

The exception of this removal of rebates are products need more process and high technology to produce. For example, corrugated metal sheets, sandwich panels and container houses. Corrugated sheets are made by cold rolling steel coil through machine to achieve a permanent deflection of the material. The complete product provides both great material characteristics and structural strength.

Sandwich panels are even more complicated in terms of manufacturer process. It uses two layers of corrugated metal sheets and a layer of insulating material. The common choice of insulating materials are rock wool, fibre glass, polyurethane, polyester. Each of these insulation have different way to shine. Rock wool sandwich panels is extreme nonflammable and amazingly sound proof. PU provides the best overall properties and the best temperature insulation. More detailed compares can be find here.

Container houses slowly becomes more popular due to its target market. It requires less time to construct, easy to transport and can be recycled after finish duty.

On the other hand, Chinese government also reduced import tax for raw steel products. This act is trying to lower the import price for steel material which ensure the manufacture of steel products can meet the inquiry of internal infrastructure construction. Expand on this topic, it is even relate to other countries included in Belt and Road Initiative. The normal manufacture of steel products ensure the construction overseas continues. Other than ensure manufacture, this also provides other countries opportunity for expanding their steel process industry. The cake has been returned since Chinese traders lose their competitive price strategy.