WEEKLY: China’s Rebar Output Rebounds to 3-Month High

Total rebar output among China’s 137 sampled steel producers including integrated and mini mills under Mysteel’s weekly survey recovered by 2% on week to its three-month high of 3.6 million tonnes during November 28-December 4, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly report.

Both rebar operational and capacity utilization rates at these surveyed mills reversed up on week, with the former up one percentage point on week to 76.4% and the latter up 1.5 percentage points on week to 79.6% respectively, according to the report.

The recoveries were attributed to resumption of rolling lines in some steel mills in East and South China after maintenance works earlier on, and the rebar rolling capacity utilization in South China grew 2.7 percentage points on week to 84.9% and that in East China up 1.8 percentage points on week to 76.8%.

Local mills in North China were still under routine capacity restrictions for winter season, Mysteel Global notes. During November 28-December 4, the rebar-making utilization rate in North China even nudged down 0.7 percentage point on week to 78.2%, according to the report.

“Some of these mills decided to end their maintenance on their rebar mills earlier than planned too on noting the decent rebar margins in the relatively warmer southern regions,” a market source from East China’s Jiangsu province said.

China’s rebar prices tend to show great price gaps in various regions in winter because of the varied demand, and the daily HRB 400 20mm dia rebar price in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong province, for example, was the highest in the domestic market at Yuan 4,720/tonne ($665/t) on December 4, compared with price in Shanghai at Yuan 4,040/t or Yuan 3,770/t in Beijing, all including the 13% VAT, according to Mysteel’s database.

The price gap, however, tends to narrow down in the coming winter weeks as more finished steel from the northern part of China will be south bound due to the further softening in demand, laying more pressure on the stocks of southern regions, Mysteel Global understands.

Table 1: Mysteel Rebar Production Survey by Region on December 4 (Unit: ’000 tonnes)

Table 2: Mysteel Wire Rod Production Survey by Region on December 4 (Unit: ‘000 tonnes)

Table 3: Mysteel Rebar Production Survey by Process on December 4 (Unit: ‘000 tonnes)

Table 4: Mysteel Wire Rod Production Survey by Process on December 4 (Unit: ‘000 tonnes)

Table 5: Mysteel Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks Survey by Region on December 4 (Unit: ‘000 tonnes)

Table 6: Mysteel Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks Survey by Process on December 4 (Unit: ‘000 tonnes)