Posted on 22 Apr 2022
Daily crude steel production among the 247 Chinese blast-furnace and 71 electric-arc-furnace steel mills under Mysteel's regular survey rose further during the middle ten days of April to average 2.84 million tonnes/day, higher by another 39,600 t/d or 1.4% from the prior ten days and marking the highest since September 2021.
The continuous recovery in China's crude steel output indicated that more domestic steelmakers had resumed or ramped up production this month, traditionally a peak month for steel consumption, Mysteel Global learned.
Mysteel's other survey among the 247 BF steel mills showed that their capacity utilization rate grew for the second week to 86.42% over April 8-14, up another 1.47 percentage points from the previous week.
However, output in mid-April was still lower compared with the average of 2.92 million t/d for the same period last year, the survey showed.
Some domestic steel mills were still refraining from lifting production, given the limited quantities of raw materials at their yards caused by transportation disruptions. Road freight services had not returned to normal due to measures introduced to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Besides, Chinese mills' enthusiasm for production had also been dampened somewhat by thinner profit margins and the lackluster demand from end-users with the ongoing impact of the COVID resurgence in some regions of China, Mysteel Global noted.
Over April 11-20, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 steel traders across China under Mysteel's regular survey averaged 173,694 t/d, down 2,893 t/d from that for early April, or well below the average of more than 200,000 t/d during the peak season.
Chinese rebar prices were hovering around Yuan 5,100/tonne ($791/t) in mid-April, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar reaching Yuan 5,140/t including the 13% VAT as of April 20, up Yuan 11/t from that on April 8, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Source:Mysteel Global
