China's first four-month steel exports at record high despite tariff turmoil

• January-April steel exports at record high for the period
• Q2 steel exports set to slump, analysts and traders say
• Iron ore imports in April at highest since December

BEIJING, May 9 (Reuters) - China's steel exports in April topped 10 million metric tons for a second straight month bringing the total in the first four months to a record high, underpinned by front-loaded shipments ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's hefty tariffs.

The world's largest steel producer and exporter shipped 10.46 million tons of steel last month, customs data showed on Friday. While largely unchanged from March, exports were 13.5% higher than the same month in 2024.

Exports from January to April jumped by 8.2% from the year before to an all-time high for the period of 37.89 million tons.

"Steel exports in April are a bit higher than our expectation, albeit maintaining positive annual growth, supported by sustained front-loading orders observed," said Jiang Mengtian, a Shanghai-based analyst at consultancy Horizon Insights.

Jiang forecast May shipments to slow as tariff and widening trade protectionism started to bite.

Washington's tariffs threaten the transshipment trade, where third countries resell Chinese steel to the U.S., while China's top steel customers like South Korea and Vietnam have also imposed duties to avoid steel being rerouted and dumped in their markets.

Second-quarter exports are set to fall by as much as a fifth from the first quarter as a result, eight analysts and traders told Reuters earlier this week.

IRON ORE

China's April iron ore imports climbed by 9.8% from March to the highest since December, as improved margins encouraged mills to book more seaborne cargoes.

The world's largest iron ore consumer brought in 103.14 million tons of the key steelmaking ingredient last month, up from a 20-month low of 93.97 million tons in March.

The volume last month, which was largely in line with analysts expectations, was also 1.3% higher than 101.82 million tons in April 2024.

"Since March imports missed expectations, it's not surprising to see higher iron ore imports in April, which could also be reflected in higher hot metal output last month and a pile-up in inventory in the last two weeks of April," said Pei Hao, an analyst at international brokerage Freight Investor Services (FIS).

In the first four months of this year, China's iron ore imports slid 5.5% from the year earlier to 388.36 million tons, the data showed.