China's stainless steel imports rose sharply year-on-year in the first two months of this year, although imports in February fell slightly compared to January, Kallanish notes.

 According to Chinese Customs data, China imported approximately 216,000 tonnes of stainless steel in January, a decrease of 0.4% month-on-month but an increase of 201.4% year-on-year. The import volume in February was about 158,000t, a decrease of 26.9% from the previous month, but a year-on-year increase of 105%. Last year, due to the longer Spring Festival holiday and the impact of Covid-19, China's stainless steel imports were at a low level.

The cumulative import volume from January to February this year was about 375,000t, an increase of 151.4% year-on-year. In the past two months, imports from Indonesia still accounted for the vast majority of China's stainless steel imports. 

In January-February China imported 301,000t of stainless steel from Indonesia, a year-on-year increase of 372.15%. Among them, hot-rolled stainless products imported from Indonesia in January were 3,100t, and cold-rolled products were 52,200t, while stainless semis imports were 117,800t. 

In February China imported 127,000t of stainless steel from Indonesia, a year-on-year increase of 298.4% but a month-on-month decrease of 26.63%. In February, imports of stainless steel hot-rolled products were 3,200t, cold-rolled products were 42,900t and stainless steel semi-finished products imports were 80,900t.