Posted on 05 Aug 2022
Daily crude steel output among the member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) during the last 11 days of July continued the fall that began in early June to reach the lowest average since last December, according to the association's latest report released on Thursday morning. Daily output during July 21-31 fell by another 7.2% or 147,700 tonnes/day from July 11-20 to an average of 1.89 million t/d, or some 10.3% lower on year.
Market sources had pointed out that blast-furnace mills mainly located in North and East China had trimmed their production during the period in response to margin losses.
The CISA data showed that as a result, daily crude steel output among the association's member mills in the whole month of July declined by 9.3% on-month to average about 2 million t/d, which was also 6.9% lower on year.
Based on its member-mill results, CISA estimated the country's daily crude steel output averaged 2.67 million t/d in the last 11 days of July, slipping by 5.9% from mid-July.
As of July 31, the member mills' finished steel stocks had reversed down by 12.8% from July 20 to total 16.6 million tonnes, a five-month low, as demand from end-users showed signs of recovery.
Over July 21-31, the daily trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel's tracking had picked up by 20,948 t/d or 14.4% from that for mid-July to 166,188 t/d on average.
Mysteel's survey among a larger group of the 332 Chinese steel mills comprising 247 BF and 85 electric-arc-furnace mills was in line with CISA's analysis, as their daily crude steel output in late July had hit a five-month low of 2.55 million t/d on average, down 3.2% or 85,300 t/d from the prior ten days, as reported.
Meanwhile, Chinese mills saw their losses on selling steel products narrow modestly during late July, thanks to the gradual recovery in domestic steel prices. As of July 29, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment had rebounded by Yuan 147/tonne ($21.8/t) from that on July 20 to Yuan 4,187/t including the 13% VAT.
Source:Mysteel Global
