Morning Bites (part 2)

🏗China is to regulate steel exports with a licence system from January 2026 as part of Beijing’s efforts to revive a depressed market, Reuters reports, citing a CISA statement. We remind readers that continuously soft local steel demand (amid the property sector downturn) led to abnormally high China’s steel export volumes (+25% YoY in 2024 and +7% YoY in 11mo25), weighing on global steel prices

In our view, new export control measures, aligned with new supply restrictions in China, might help to normalise the country’s outbound shipments and support global steel prices in 2026, as it gives Beijing a flexible administrative tool to slow or redirect steel exports without formally imposing quotas or tariffs

#steel