Seven Reasons to Buy Steel from China

With the depression of steel prices on the global market, it has become less expensive, in many cases, to import raw steel from China to finish at local metal manufacturing facilities than to buy locally. Demand currently doesn’t match output, which creates a buyer’s market for steel.

Although price is the major reason to import steel, other reasons include:

  • Depressed prices. Again, China steel manufacturers have overproduced product for what the demand is global. This has caused a depression of steel prices for both foreign and domestic steel. With relaxed tariffs in the US, the cost of imported steel is still less than that of domestic manufacturers and steel mills.
  • Over ordering. Having a lot of raw material setting around can work to your benefit. China’s steel industry has started to slow down their production, but the raw material has already been acquired and is costing manufacturer’s overhead costs just to keep it.
  • High-quality. China’s government has recently tightened up their regulations concerning steel mills, closing many that couldn’t maintain the minimum standards set. This has left the companies that are still in business taking a greater concern on the quality of their products and manufacturing methods.
  • Excellent customer service. With the slowing down of production, China’s steel manufacturers are fighting harder over a smaller market share and offering inducements to get your business. One of the primary inducements they can offer is excellent customer service and keeping current and potential customers happy and satisfied.
  • Price locks. Taking the worry out of a fluctuating market price helps raw steel importers control their bottom line. Instead of waiting for the price to creep down, inhibiting manufacturing while waiting for the price to bottom out, you can plan ahead for costs by ordering now, at the current rate, and having the steel shipped to your facility on your schedule.
  • Dependable shipping schedules. With the accumulation of raw materials, scheduling your order becomes easier. The Chinese companies already have the material for your order in stock and can begin work on it, immediately. This allows for planned ordering and shipping without having to worry about the global market availability.
  • Tariff issues. Currently, the trade atmosphere between China and the US favors the import of steel over buying it within the US. Importing steel, even with the costs of transportation factored in, costs about 10% less than buying from US suppliers.

Modernized facilities and an emphasis on increasing their economic output have made the current dynamic between China and the US a perfect place for finished steel manufacturers. Latest steel prices, cheap shipping and a ready supply of materials will keep Chinese steel flowing into the American marketplace as long as the market will sustain it or until the government steps in to put an end to the market status that Chinese steel currently enjoys.

Market Demand and Economic Uncertainty -Creating the Perfect Time to Import Steel

The current picture of steel manufacturing the world over is driven by two countries. The United States is importing large amounts of raw and finished steel products. China is meeting and exceeding these demands, while also continuing to import large amounts of iron ore in their steel manufacturing industry. Conflicts and agreements between these two countries has created a situation where prices continue to fall and production continues to rise. More products have to be made, or imported, to meet economic demands.

China has been garnering a lot of attention lately with their expansion of steel exports. Currently the largest exporter in the world, Chinese production is still increasing, driving prices down globally and making Chinese steel products cost- and time-effective.

The United States has imported over 10 million metric tons of steel in the first quarter of 2014. Demands in the auto industry and energy drilling have increased and although American steelmakers have filed trade cases arguing for an increase in tariffs, most of those cases are unresolved at present and the market remains open.

Many US steel mills are supporting tariffs against imported finished steel, but are also big importers of raw steel that they use to make finished products. This has created a market that the steel industry is trying to exploit for specific gains, while hurting foreign steel makers for producing the same products for a cheaper price.

Internationally, the price of iron ore is primarily determined by Chinese demand. China is the largest consumer of iron ore in the world, even with the current economic slowdown. This slowdown has resulted in lowering factory output and slowing retail sales. Continuing this trend will result in a depression of the world market for iron ore as less is used and inventory builds up in Chinese ports.

These two factors, increased Chinese manufacture and a looming tariff on importing steel to the US has created the perfect moment for importing steel for your industry or business. Locking in low import prices, now, before the tariff laws raise them will ensure a steady supply of raw or finished steel from China while avoiding the uncertainty that will follow the US tariff decisions.

Good business sense suggests that you buy while prices are low. It is unlikely that production will continue at this level much longer. The economic and manufacturing changes occurring in Chinese steel suppliers will slow production down.  If the tariffs go into effect in the US, the prices for imported steel will necessarily rise. Now is the time to buy steel.

Resource Box:

A general overview of the state of steel imports and exports between the US and China with a look forward at the coming tariff disputes and economic slowdown. The emphasis is on purchasing while steel prices are low and the economic picture is still stable.

Article Summary:

This article highlights the current state of affairs between the US and China over the steel import/export situation. It gives a general overlook of the economic positioning of each country and the most likely outcomes.

Latest Galvanized Steel Prices From SteelFromChina.com

Latest Steel Prices

Steel Coil Sizes Steel Price
(FOB China)
Steel Grade
Common Quality
0.5*1250*C $710/MT

JIS G3302 SGCC/ASTM

A653 CS Type B/EN10142

DX51D,80g/sqm

0.6*1250*C $705/MT
0.7*1250*C $700/MT
0.8*1250*C $695/MT
0.9*1250*C $693/MT
1.0*1250*C $690/MT
1.2*1250*C $693/MT
1.5*1250*C $690/MT
2.0*1250*C $685/MT
2.5*1250*C $703/MT
High zinc coating
0.8*1250*C $780/MT JIS G3302 SGCC/ASTM

A653 CS Type B/EN10142

DX51D,275g/sqm

1.0*1250*C $770/MT
1.2*1250*C $760/MT
1.5*1250*C $730/MT
2.0*1250*C $730/MT
2.5*1250*C $710/MT
3.0*1250*C $710/MT
3.5*1250*C $720/MT
4.0*1250*C $725/MT

China Steel

 

Steel Prices Quick Quote

 

Differences between Hot Rolled Coil and Cold Rolled Coil

Before souring steel materials for a project, you should to know the differences between the different types of steel, How it is used and what are the advantages and disadvantages. Then you can make a decision and choose the right product for your project.

Below we will discuss a pretty common question: what’s the different between Hot Rolled Steel and Cold Rolled Steel, their advantage and disadvantage, etc

Hot Rolled Steel and Cold Rolled Steel

Cold Rolled Steel and Hot Rolled Steel

1 , Differences in rolling process:

Hot rolling is a metallurgical process that mainly to produce steel sheet or Steel Plate, after being passed between a set of work rolls, the billets are simply deformed or cut into steel plate, and the rolling temperatures would be over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cold rolling is another metal working process at temperatures that are close to normal room temperature, deform metal by passing it through rollers. Cold rolling often used to decrease the thickness of steel plate or steel sheet, and increase the metal’s yield strength and hardness.

2 , Advantage and disadvantage: Hot Rolled Steel vs. Cold Rolled Steel

The cold rolled steel is more precise dimensionally than a hot rolled product that created by hot rolling process, The cold rolled steel has already gone through the cooling process, which help it closer to the finished dimension.

However, the shapes of cold rolled steel is limited because of these properties, round, square, flat and variations of those types of shapes. If with small transverse dimension and uniform cross section, other shapes can also be cold rolled.

During the cooling process, Hot rolled steel re-configures itself, which giving the finished product looser tolerances than the original material. Compared with cold rolled steel products, Hot rolled steel is more malleable, allowing it to be forced into a variety of different shapes.

3 Cost of Hot Rolled Steel vs. Cold Rolled Steel

Generally, the cost of cold rolled steel could be twice as much as the cost of hot rolled steel, as cold rolling is a More complex metal working process than hot rolling

There is also another finishing between hot rolling process and cold rolling process, Pickled and Oiled. By being pickled in acid and oiled, the mill scale on the hot rolled steel can be removed and protect it from rusting. Picking and oiling cost is somewhere in between regular hot rolling and cold rolling.

4 usage of Hot Rolled Steel and Cold Rolled Steel

Hot rolled steel always used to create larger size products, as those larger products need to be in more distinct shapes. Hot Rolled Coil is produced as a feedstock for Cold Rolled Coil and coated coil, but also for immediate use in a variety of industrial applications including Steel Tubes used in transport, shipbuilding, construction, gas containers, pressure vessels and energy pipelines.

And Smaller products need to be more durable and tolerant, always created by the Cold Rolled Steel. Cold Rolled Steel is a ‘flat’ steel product. The material is manufactured from Hot Rolled Steel, with further thickness reduction performed on a strip mill without the use of heat. The application of cold rolled steel including: Automotive components, Bathtubs, Construction and building components, Domestic appliances, Electrical goods, Furniture, etc

If you are still not so sure about what kind of steel can meet your project requirements, please feel free to contact us, our professional sales engineer will help you, offer you advice and suggestions, our best solutions for your reference.

How to Select a Steel Supplier from China

How to find the best steel coil suppliers in China? This is your first time to source H Beam steel or IPE steel products from China? Do you want to find some useful tips or experiences? If your answers are Yes, then you are in the right place.

It’s important for you to find and buy only the best quality materials from hundreds and thousands of Chinese steel Supplier, with reasonable steel prices , whether you’re the owner of a trading company or  running a manufacturing business. Keep in mind that the end result is only a product of what you put into it.

Before searching a steel company in China, there are Two things you should always in mind: High quality steel products and good reputation for services. Below are the factors that would guide you answer your questions, and help you find a steel supplier with high quality products and good services:

Production facilities

In Steel Industry, the steel products’ quality of a mill provided mainly depends on their facilities. As you know, Steel is a high volume product,  it is improbable to check all the products’quality. That’s why it is important to find the right kind of Iron & Steel making route and right equipments to produce for you. Some of the common facilities including: Ladle Refining furnace, Continuous casting / Ingot Casting, Rolling, Finishing Facilities.

Quality Control

Quality control can be achieved With higher levels of automations and by complying with efficient quality systems. You can check whether the company have any certifications of factory management and quality control assurance, ISO9001, ISO14001 for example. A steel mill gets accredited to ISO or other various renowned quality standards and private quality standards, then a quality control system is in place. Please note that the quality control is related with all departments, not only the quality control department. This attitude will ensure reduction of defective steel products

Good Services

Your suppliers would like to provide you a steel solution? or just sell products? Steel plants should always make themselves as a steel solution provider, rather than steel producer and sellers. A sales with good services would offer you some suggestions, help you saving cost. As a buyer, you have to check how customer friendly of the sales is and how your orders are taken care of. There are lots of steel plants with good facilities and products, but with poor sales team and bad attitude.It will take some time to find a sales team with fully support, but it is worth to do that. Understand each other, trust each other, enjoy a long term win-win cooperation.

There are another better and easier way for you to judge the level of a steel supplier’s product quality and their services: Check the company’s reputation of their past dealing for references, check their existing clientele. but you should know every customer have different needs, you should know your market and your position.

The Difference between Galvanized Steel and Galvalume Steel

With the sustained and stable development of China’s national economy, the galvanized steel and galvalume steel has been in rapid growth, and in the field of international trading, China steel prices also attract large amount of requirements of them.

The main difference between galvanized steel and galvalume is the plate coating. Surface of galvanized steel evenly distributed the layer of zinc materials, which plays the role of anodic protection for base material, that means corrosion of zinc material give the protection of the base material , and only when all the zinc coating is corroded ,can harm done to the base metal inside. Galvalume coating surface is made from 55% aluminum, 43.5% zinc and a little amount of other elements. Galvalume coating is of a honeycomb structure under microscopic circumstance .The “honeycomb”, which is made of aluminum, contains all the zinc .In this case, the galvalume coating also plays the role of anodic protection, but with the decrease of the zinc amount, and the zinc material covered by aluminum, the anodic protection reduced greatly. So once the galvalume steel sheets are cut, the cutting edge without protection will soon be corroded. So should galvalume sheets be cut less, and zinc-rich paint or anti-rust paint applied to the cutting edge could be able to increase the life of the steel sheets.

The surface of galvalume sheet is more beautiful than galvanized sheet, while the galvalume sheet is much more expensive than galvanized sheet, and the price of small spangle is more expensive than large spangle.

galvanized steel

In a rainy and humid city, once corrosion occurs at some point on galvalume sheet, it will spread increasingly on whole board if you do not take measures timely to slowly rust; while galvanized rust not spread if it occurs at a point.

Even a galvalume with greatest quality cannot overcome this shortcoming. Therefore, when we propose customers of the galvanized products, we will explain to customers the difference between them, if they require galvalume products, then we can only try to use corrosion paint immediately once it is cut.

 

What is Angle Iron?

angle iron

 

Angle Iron, also commonly known as angle steel, is a 90 degree folded flat metal along its length. With equal length of the 2 sides of the angle, we called it “Equal steel Iron”, otherwise, we called it “Unequal Steel Iron”. Its specifications expressed in “Edge width * Edge width × Edge Thickness”. “30×30×3″ for example, it means the edge width of Steel Iron is 30mm, and the thickness is 3 mm.

Applications of Angle Iron

According to the different needs, Angle Iron often used as structural element in building, bridge, Transmission tower, Lifting and transport machinery, or for variety of supports, such as bed frame, Warehouse shelves, etc.

application of angle iron

Factors that affect angle iron prices

Size of Angle iron, The type and grades of Steel are normal factors that impact prices of Steel Iron. Other factors like shipping cost, import & export clearance fees should also considered if you want to buy Angle Iron from China steel suppliers.

1.Depends on your projects or intended applications, you need different dimensional size and  thickness of Angle Iron, the Typical size range: 20×20-200×200, 0.3mm-25mm Thick, 6m-13m Long. With more steel is used to create a larger Angle Iron, the price will increase accordingly, Normally, your suppliers will provide you the prices based on the weight of Angle iron.

2.The type of steel used to produce Angle iron can also impact the prices because the cost of the steel types varies greatly. Galvanized angle iron with hot-dip galvanized (zinc) coatings need more labor and process, which will cost much more money. And those cost will be added onto the prices.

3.If you import angle iron from China, you may also consider to adding boron into angle iron. By adding boron, China Steel suppliers can get a 9% to 13% tax rebate for a number of products, which makes huge differences on the price . The difference can up to 100 USD/MT. You can save more cost by importing angle iron from private mills instead of State owned mills.

Contact us now to get more ideas about how to choose the right type of angle iron for your projects and how to saving cost by importing angle iron from China.

 

Metal Roofing

Metal roofing is durable, lightweight, efficient, fire resistant and environmentally friendly. Although metal roofing is more expensive than its more common cousin-asphalt-it far outlasts it. It has been known to last as long as 50 years.

The energy efficiency of metal roofs is impressive. As much as 70% of the sun can be reflected, thus drastically reducing cooling costs. It will also help maintain the temperature inside at a comfortable level and keep the cost of heating down.

Metal roofing is an environmentally friendly option for today’s builder and homeowner. The steel used for metal roofing products is made of as much as 50% recycled materials. It is also completely recyclable itself. Some contractors will install metal roofing materials over existing asphalt shingles, thus reducing waste in a landfill.

Metal roofing material can be made of copper, galvanized steel, coated steel, stainless steel or aluminum. There are several options for panel construction – standing seam, decorative stampings and many others. Color choices are endless and can please even the pickiest client.

Most homes in hurricane-prone areas benefit greatly from metal roofing choices. Experience proves that high winds often leave these roofs intact. They are also resistant to heavy rain, damaging hail and snow and ice which can result in lower insurance rates for homeowners. Metal roofing may well be the choice of future roofs!

China steel suppliers more and more these years, customers more pay attention to quality. Choose a reliable supplier is particularly important. Customers could check suppliers of production scale, established time, shipment situation, shipping photos and Mill Test Certificate and so on. It’s very important to discuss about delivery time, a great number of suppliers guarantee 15 days shipment, but general they can’t deliver products on time. Because produce 50MT to 500MT corrugated galvanized sheet need 20~30 days usually.

Galvanized steel price decides the price of corrugated galvanized roofing sheet. Because galvanized steel is base plate for corrugated galvanized sheet.

Why are more homeowners choosing Sunspeed metal roofing over traditional roofing types? Because our metal roofs are more durable, easier to maintain and can save you money on energy costs and home insurance. Perhaps the biggest reason is the incomparable beauty of a Sunspeed metal roof. You can choose from a wide a variety of vibrant colors, sleek panel profiles and attractive trim components, allowing you to express yourself through your home’s appearance.

Want to know more about Galvanized Angle Iron?

Galvanized angle iron supplier is not necessarily the common angle iron manufacturer. Because galvanized angle iron is by the angle iron then making galvanized, sometimes, the angle iron factory can’t make galvanized process, so we need to find the professional galvanized mill to galvanize for our angle iron after which we can get the galvanized angle iron. So the galvanized angle steel price is always higher than the angle iron price about 800-1200 rmb / ton more or less.

Galvanized Angle Iron is the angle after derusting into around 500 ℃ melting liquid zinc through which the zinc layer is adhered on the surface of the angle steel, thereby reach the purpose of anticorrosive, it’s suitable for all kinds of acid, alkali fog corrosive environments.

Galvanized Angle Iron has many advantages just like the following list

No. 1 Low processing cost: the cost of the hot dip galvanized anti-rust cost is lower than other paint coating.

No. 2 Durable: hot dip galvanized Angle steel has surface luster, uniform zinc layer, no plating leakage, no DiLiu, strong adhesion, corrosion resistance strong features. In the suburbs environment, standard hot-dip galvanized anti-rust thickness can be 50 years without repair, and in urban areas or coastal area, the standard of hot-dip galvanized anti-rust layer can keep 20 years without repair.

No. 3 Good reliability: between the galvanized layer and steel there is the metallurgical combination. It’s a part of the steel surface which can make the durability of coating more reliable.

No. 4 Coating of high tenacity: galvanized layer to form a kind of special metallurgical structure, this structure can bear the mechanical damage during transport and use.

No. 5 Comprehensive protection: each section of the plated parts can zinc plating, even in the cavity, sharp corners and hiding places can be fully protected.

No. 6 Save time and effort: galvanized process faster than other coating construction method, and can avoid the time needed for brushwork at site after installation.

Galvanized angle iron has very widely use with tower, communication tower, railway and highway protection, lamp posts, Marine structures, construction steel structure component, ancillary facilities of substation, light industry, etc.

If you are looking for information on the better anti-rust, high tenacity coating, durable and good reliability angle iron, please visit our product page.

How Many Do You Know about Angle Iron?

Angle iron is becoming more and more important in building structures and engineering structures to fulfill our daily life. There are so many angle iron suppliers in China and the angle iron prices are competitive. Among them, Steel from China guarantees great quality and reasonable prices.

Angle iron is mainly used to make the frame structure, such as high-voltage transmission tower, steel bridge frame on both sides of the tower, crane on the construction site of the column and arm, workshops columns and beams, some small places like the roadside flowerpot shape shelf, hanging shelf solar air conditioning in windows. Angle of the surface quality requirements in the standard, general requirements may not exist in the use of harmful defects such as delamination, scarring, and cracks. Angle iron geometry of the allowable range in the standard deviation is also provided, generally comprises a curved edge, width edge, other items of the theoretical weight and the predetermined angle of twist can not be significant.

The manufacturing process of angle iron is relatively simple, and according to the production technique angle iron can be divided into two types which are hot-rolled and cold-formed. Hot rolled steel angle is large, while cold-formed is relatively smaller. Standard process is billet through a dedicated many channels repeatedly rolling steel mills gradually rolled into v shape. There is a transition in the inner corner of the arc with reliable mechanical properties. Rather small workshop production is directly rolled sheet or strip with a curve into the inside corner no transition arc, and because the larger the bending stress in a corner, and poor mechanical properties, the most important point is that the material is not guaranteed, this generally can not buy back angle bend, nor welding, drilling up to take the length. Angle steel billets for the production of raw material for carbon square steel billets, hot rolled angles finished forming, hot-rolled or normalizing the status of delivery.

If you are looking for more information about angle iron, please visit www.steelfromchina.com. We will supply you detailed information and quick quotations.