Posted on 06 Sep 2022
Rebar production among the 137 Chinese steel mills countrywide sampled by Mysteel continued to increase over the August 25-31 period, climbing for the sixth straight week by an even larger 9% or 243,500 tonnes on week, to reach a more than two-month high of 2.94 million tonnes, according to Mysteel's weekly survey.
The climb was largely due to the growing enthusiasm among domestic steelmakers for increasing output after power restrictions had gradually eased, as well as the fact that more blast furnaces had been gradually brought back on stream.
Over the survey period, both rebar rolling capacity utilization and the operational rate among the surveyed producers moved up, with the former growing for the sixth week too, up 5.3 percentage points on week to 64.4%. The latter rose for the third week, up 2.3 percentage points on week to 50.5%, Mysteel's surveys showed.
Steel mills in all key regions except South China posted on-week gains in their rebar output, and those in East and Southwest China achieved significant increases in production, the survey found.
The higher rebar output and lower sales saw stocks at the 137 surveyed mills mount further however, with the tonnage swelling by 136,300 tonnes or 6.4% on week to near a one-month high of 2.3 million tonnes by August 31, while the volume at the commercial houses in the 35 Chinese cities Mysteel checks slipped for the eleventh week, down 177,300 tonnes or 3.5% on week to 4.9 million tonnes by September 1, a seven-month low.
Last week, the trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 steel trading houses Mysteel canvasses regularly decreased by 8,447 tonnes/day or 5.6% on week to a mere 143,325 t/d on average over August 29-September 2, as deepening negative sentiment in the spot market impacted the willingness of market participants to purchase, sources remarked.
China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a weathervane of the country's steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at a one-month low of Yuan 4,101/tonne ($594/t) and including the 13% VAT as of September 2, having tumbled by Yuan 151/t on week.
Source:Mysteel Global
