Daily crude steel output in China rose further during the middle ten days of this month to a nine-month high of 2.98 million tonnes/day on average, higher by another 33,100 t/d or 1.1% from that for early March, according to Mysteel’s survey among 247 blast-furnace (BF) and 87 electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steel mills across the country.
The result suggested that many Chinese BF and EAF mills had ramped up production in mid-March, as they could still earn some profits on finished steel sales, despite the fact that softening market sentiment had caused domestic steel prices to retreat somewhat.
Besides, March and April are usually peak months for steel consumption in China, which also gave domestic steelmakers some confidence to keep their production high.
Mysteel’s other weekly survey showed that over March 10-16, capacity utilization among the 247 domestic BF steel mills under its regular tracking had continued its two-month climb to hit a five-month high of 88.44%, higher by another 0.41 percentage point from the prior week. Similarly, that for the 87 sampled EAF mills also increased to 66.17% during the same period, up 2.82 percentage points on week and refreshing the highest rate since mid-May 2022.
However, Chinese steel prices weakened slightly in mid-March as market confidence was undermined by the banking problems in the U.S. and Europe, and transactions in the physical market also slowed when price trends became uncertain, Mysteel Global noted.
As of March 20, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 4,349/tonne ($632/t) including the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 38/t from ten days earlier and off by Yuan 67/t compared with the recent high on March 14.
Over March 11-20, daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel’s regular survey reached 166,201 t/d on average, down 17,199 t/d or 9.4% from that for the first ten days of March.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
Edited by Zhenqi Yang, yangzhenqi@mysteel.com
Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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