Production of rebar across China touched a three-year low of 17.7 million tonnes in September, or down faster by 24.7% on year, against the 16.1% on-year drop for August, Mysteel Global noted from the latest data released by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on October 21. The result was also 12.1% lower on month and represented the third straight on-month decline.
During January-September, total rebar production edged up by 0.6% on year to 195.5 million tonnes, according to the NBS figures, with the slower growth mainly caused by the lower rebar output last month.
Rebar, the most widely produced steel item in China, accounted for 17.4% of the country’s total finished steel output of nearly 102 million tonnes in September, the NBS data showed. The product also accounted for 19.2% of the around 1 billion tonnes of finished steel China produced during January-September.
Last month, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses under Mysteel’s survey averaged 216,273 tonnes/day, or higher by 17.1% on month. Traditionally, September-October are peak months for steel consumption in China though last’s trading volume was lower by 4% on year.
In September, China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar assessed by Mysteel averaged Yuan 5,599/tonne ($876/t) including the 13% VAT, or up Yuan 279/t on month on the support of lower output and better demand. Regarding iron ore, Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines price declined for the third month by $41/dmt on month to $117/dmt CFR Qingdao on average.
During the past nine months, China’s fixed asset investment grew 7.3% on year to about Yuan 39.8 trillion. Among which, funding in the property market increased by 8.8% on year to Yuan 11.3 trillion. That for infrastructure gained 1.5% on year, though this was 1.4 percentage points lower than the rise for January-August, as Mysteel Global reported.
Written by Rong Zhang, zhangronga@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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