Over November 12-18, the blast furnace (BF) capacity utilization rate among China’s 247 steel mills under Mysteel’s survey dropped to a new low since late March 2018 or reaching 75.35% after the fifth consecutive week of decline by another 0.38 percentage point, as most mills had been cautious with their steel output amid thinning steel margins or even losses with domestic steel price decreases.
Over the latest survey period, daily molten iron output among these 247 mills, thus, dipped by 10,200 tonnes/day on week to 2.02 million t/d in total, and their BF operational rate also declined by 1.24 percentage points on the week to 70.34%, or 16.11 percentage points lower on year, indicating more had been on maintenance.
“Tepid demand in finished steel and the declining steel prices have dampened steelmakers’ enthusiasm on higher output, and winter restriction in many parts of North China has also constrained operations among the regional mills,” a Shanghai-based market watcher commented.
As of November 18, China’s national composite price of the HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel’s assessment fell Yuan 122/tonne ($19/t) on the week to Yuan 4,716/t and including the 13% VAT, or hovering at the lowest since March, and over November 12-18, spot trading of construction steel among China’s 237 traders under Mysteel’s survey stayed tepid, averaging 176,675 tonnes/day.
Lower steel output saw these steel mills reduce their imported iron ore inventories, as the total volume including all forms and the tonnage at their steelworks, port stockyards and on the water, dipped for the second week by another 475,200 tonnes to 106.7 million tonnes, while these could still last 42.5 days, or almost the same on the week, as their daily consumption had been falling.
Mysteel’s smaller-scale survey on China’s 163 steel plants showed an overall stability, as their BF capacity hovered low at 58.69%, or up on week but merely 0.1 percentage point.
~Written by Victoria Zou, zyongjia@mysteel.com
~This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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