According to customs data, China imported 2.877 million tons of cement clinker in May, down 23 per cent from a year earlier and up 8 per cent from a month earlier. In addition, from January to May, China imported a total of 11.2562 million tons of cement clinker, an increase of 11.9% over the same period last year.
The biggest feature of China's cement clinker import data in May is "simultaneous increase in volume and price", and the increase in "volume" is mainly reflected in month-on-month and cumulative import growth. For the sharp decline in imports compared with the same period last year, the digital cement network believes that it is mainly affected by the base figure of the previous year. In the same period last year, due to the needs of epidemic prevention and control, the production capacity of domestic cement clinker was greatly restrained, and the time for resumption of work in the infrastructure sector was earlier than that of the manufacturing industry, and the concentrated outbreak of market demand encountered tight supply, resulting in a short-term sharp increase in import demand for cement clinker. The current import volume rose sharply to a high of 3.736 million tons, which is an abnormal situation, an increase of 1.346 million tons compared with 2.39 million tons in May 2019.
In terms of price, the average import price of clinker in China in May was 343 yuan / ton, up 35% from the same period last year and 4.6% from the previous month.
In terms of trading partners, Vietnam has always been the largest importer of cement clinker in China. In May, China imported a total of 2.388 million tons of cement clinker from Vietnam, accounting for 83% of China's total imports in that month, occupying an absolutely dominant position. The other major importers were Indonesia (233000 tons), Japan (119000 tons) and Thailand (110000 tons).