WEEKLY: Chinese BF mills’ production nudges up further

• BF output rises as mills resume operations after maintenance
• Lower iron ore consumption pushes inventories to 30-day cover

Production among Chinese blast furnace (BF) steelmakers continued to increase, albeit marginally, during the past week, as more idled furnaces were brought back onstream, Mysteel’s latest survey showed.

Mysteel’s tracking showed that the average capacity utilization rate among the 247 BF steelmakers edged up for the second straight week by another 0.06 percentage point to reach 89.44% during August 7-13, with their combined daily hot metal output picking up 0.07% on week to 2.38 million tonnes/day.

During the same period, the average operational rate among these 247 sampled steel mills also climbed 0.32 percentage point on week to 82.64%.

Some BF mills restarted furnace operations after completing their regular maintenance, contributing to the overall growth in the hot metal production, Mysteel Global noted.

Meanwhile, Chinese steelmakers’ profit margins improved slightly in the past week, which also allowed many mills across the country to maintain steady production, Mysteel’s survey showed.

As of August 13, around 34% of the 247 sampled BF mills could make some profits on selling their steel products, higher by 2 percentage points from the previous week, according to Mysteel’s tracking.

Despite the increase in hot metal output, the total consumption of imported iron ore among the 247 steelmakers Mysteel monitors dipped 0.1% on week to average 2.91 million t/d during August 7-13.

As of August 13, the total inventories of imported iron ore in all forms held by the same 247 mills, including those at their works, in transit, and at ports, continued to edge up 0.4% from a week earlier to reach 88.1 million tonnes, according to the survey.

The existing stocks would be sufficient to last these mills for 30.3 days at their current usage rate, longer by 0.1 day from the previous period, Mysteel assessed.

Note: This article is published as part of a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.