China’s refineries shipped a record amount of fuel products, aluminum processors sold their second-highest tonnage of product and steelmakers increased exports by 22 percent to 102 million tonnes in the January-November period, setting a new record, according to preliminary customs data.
The numbers will probably increase concerns that the world’s No. 2 economy is exporting its excess output onto a saturated global market, accelerating the rout in prices.
“We think it’s a longer term dynamic playing out: China exporting its surplus to the Western world,” said Daniel Hynes, analyst at ANZ, referring to the 15 percent surge in unwrought aluminum and product exports to 450,000 tonnes in November.