Posted on 14 Sep 2022
Rebar production among the 137 Chinese steel mills surveyed regularly by Mysteel increased for the seventh successive week over September 1-7, rising by another 4.7% or 138,200 tonnes on week to hit a 3.5-month high of 3.08 million tonnes, with mills in Jiangsu and Shandong in East China, Sichuan in Southwest China, and Jilin in Northeast China contributing most to the longs total, Mysteel's weekly survey showed.
During the survey period, the rebar rolling capacity utilization rate among the sampled steel producers rose for a seventh week, increasing by 3 percentage points on week to 67.4%. Meanwhile, their operational rate picked up for the fourth week, rising 1.3 percentage points over the same period to 51.8%.
Nonetheless, rebar output last week still fell short of the level during the corresponding period last year when production averaged 3.27 million tonnes/week, according to Mysteel's data.
Mysteel's other survey showed that the daily trading volume of construction steel including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among 237 Chinese trading houses averaged 175,588 t/d last week, some 22.5% or 32,263 t/d higher from the prior week's average.
The recovery in spot sales was mainly due to the replenishment needs from some market participants ahead of the country's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday over September 10-12, according to the survey.
In tandem, rebar stocks at the 137 surveyed mills reversed down 1.5% or 34,600 tonnes on week to 2.2 million tonnes as of September 7, while tonnage at the commercial houses in the 35 cities Mysteel monitors thinned for the twelfth week in a row, slipping 2.1% or 102,300 tonnes on week to 4.8 million tonnes as of September 8.
As for Chinese steel prices, the national HRB400E 20mm dia rebar price for example, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 4,135/tonne ($597/t) including the 13% VAT on September 9, the last working day before the holiday break. This price had rebounded by Yuan 34/t on week.
Source:Mysteel Global
