According to data from China’s Customs, last December, China’s stainless steel imports amounted to around 237,000 tons, dropping by 18.79% month on month and decreasing by 12.42% year on year. Among them, the imports from Indonesia were nearly 190,000 tons, a month-on-month decrease of 18.19%.

Meanwhile, the exports totaled 391,000 tons, decreasing by 2.56% month on month and falling by 11.82% year on year.

Regarding nickel ore, China’s imports totaled about 2.76 million tons last December, decreasing by 33.86% month on month but increasing by 44.03% year on year. Among them, the imports from the Philippines slumped by 44.69% month on month but increased by 29% year on year to 1.98 million tons.

The Philippines is in the rainy season, and China’s imports from the Philippines were expected to keep declining from January to March.