Posted on 01 Dec 2020
Rebar output among the 137 Chinese producers surveyed by Mysteel including integrated mills and re-rollers was largely stable over November 19-25, while stocks at mills’ yards reversed up from the further shrinking of demand, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey.
China produced 3.6 million tonnes of rebar over November 19-25, higher by 1,100 tonnes on week or up 1.1% on year, while the rebar rolling capacity utilization rate among the 137 sampled mills was essentially unchanged – being just 0.03 percentage point up on week at 78.94% during that period.
Rebar stocks held by the surveyed 137 steel mills reversed up after sliding for six weeks, growing slightly by 0.2% from the prior week’s 10-month low to reach 2.3 million tonnes over November 19-25, as demand from construction sites slowed further, impacted further by the heavy snow in northern China.
“Although market pressure from the supply side had not increased significantly, new orders from end-users shrank over the past week,” a market source in Shanghai explained.
Mysteel’s daily survey among the 237 trading houses across China showed that daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil had fallen below the threshold of 200,000 tonnes/day over November 19-25 to average just 187,213 t/d, plummeting by a huge 41,409 t/d or 18.1% from the previous week and indicating the contracted demand of end-users.
Many domestic traders were very cautious about replenishing inventory and tried to lower their stocks at hand on noting the retreat of demand, Mysteel Global noted. Over November 20-26, rebar inventories at traders’ warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities Mysteel checks slipped further but at a slower pace to 6.7 million tonnes, falling by another 7% on week – as against the decline of 9.6% over the prior week – to refresh the new low since Mysteel launched the survey in mid-March, the data show.
Chinese steel prices decreased to some extent over the week with the weakening demand and softening sentiment in the domestic market, with the national price of HRB 400 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, losing Yuan 52/tonne ($7.9/t) on week to Yuan 4,107/t including the 13% VAT as of November 26, Mysteel’s data showed.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
Table 1: Mysteel Rebar Production Survey by Region on November 25 (Unit: ’000 tonnes)
Table 2: Mysteel Wire Rod Production Survey by Region on November 25 (Unit: ‘000 tonnes)
Table 3: Mysteel Rebar Production Survey by Process on November 25 (Unit: ‘000 tonnes)
Table 4: Mysteel Wire Rod Production Survey by Process on November 25 (Unit: ‘000 tonnes)
Table 5: Mysteel Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks Survey by Region on November 25 (Unit: ‘000 tonnes)
Table 6: Mysteel Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks Survey by Process on November 25 (Unit: ‘000 tonnes)
Source:Mysteel Global
