Posted on 17 Mar 2021
China’s rebar output from the 137 sampled steel producers including both the integrated mills and re-rollers stayed on the uptrend for the third straight week over March 4-10, or up another 110,700 tonnes or 3.3% on week to 3.49 million tonnes, according to Mysteel’s latest survey.
The rebar rolling capacity utilization rate at the surveyed producers increased by 2.4 percentage points on week to 76.5%, while the operational rate edged up by 0.7 percentage point on week to 66.6%, with re-rollers and electric-arc-furnace (EAF) mills contributed to the latest weekly gains in the long steel production, while the tonnage from the blast-furnace (BF) mills remained largely unchanged from the prior week, the survey showed.
Steel mills in Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangdong and Guangxi in East, Central, South and Southwest China respectively with many being EAF mills saw their rebar output swell substantially with the resumption of production, Mysteel noted.
The latest weekly output, thus, recovered to the level before the Chinese New Year holiday, according to Mysteel’s database.
So far in March, China’s steelmaking raw materials and rebar prices have been fluctuating, and as of March 10, the national price of the HRB 400 20mm dia rebar declined Yuan 78/tonne ($12/t) on week to Yuan 4,696/t including the 13% VAT, and Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines also dipped by $12.7/dmt on week to $164/dmt CFR Qingdao as of March 10, according to Mysteel’s assessments.
The fluctuations in China’s rebar and raw material prices have been understandable as the market sources are still looking for clear directions and downward correction is expected after these prices had touched their multi-year highs in mid and late February, Mysteel Global noted.
As for actual demand, spot sales of construction steel including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among China’s 237 sampled trading houses averaged 162,173 tonnes/day over March 4-10, or up 12.9% on week, according to Mysteel’s tracking, which confirmed the firm recovery, as March-April is a traditional steel consumption peak season in China when all the construction projects can operate in full swing.
The changes in rebar stocks at the 137 Chinese steel mills and the traders in China’s 132 cities, showed signs of divergence on the relatively high prices, as the inventories among the former grew for the tenth successive week, up another 1.5% on week to 5.3 million tonnes as of March 10, while the volume at the latter reversed down from a nine-week incline, though falling merely 0.2% on week to about 13 million tonnes as of March 11, according to Mysteel’s data.
In the near term, the strong pick-up in the industrial activities and demand for steel may lead to a faster reduction in stocks, Mysteel Global understands.
Table 1: Rebar Production Survey by Region by Mar 10.
Table 2: Wire Rod Production Survey by Region by Mar 10.
Table 3: Rebar Production Survey by Process by Mar 10.
Table 4: Wire Rod Production Survey by Process by Mar 10.
Table 5: Mills' Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks by Region by Mar 10.
Table 6: Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks Survey by Process by Mar 10.
Source:Mysteel Global
