Posted on 14 Sep 2022
China's daily crude steel output continued to grow over the first ten days of September to average 2.86 million tonnes/day, higher by another 102,100 tonnes or 3.7% from late August, Mysteel estimated, based on its regular survey among 247 blast-furnace and 85 electric-arc-furnace steel mills nationwide.
The continuous rally mainly reflected the fact that more Chinese steel producers in East, North and Northeast China, including BF and EAF mills, resumed operation after completing scheduled maintenance, with their capacity utilization increasing accordingly, Mysteel Global noted.
Over September 2-8, the capacity utilization rate among the 247 sampled BF mills increased for the sixth consecutive week to average 87.56%, higher by 0.73 percentage point on week, while that for the 85 surveyed EAF mills recovered to 52.09% during the same period, growing for the second week by another 6.26 percentage points from the prior week, according to Mysteel's other weekly survey.
China has entered the traditional peak season for steel consumption over September-October with the high temperatures in many regions of China disappearing, while steel demand from end-users remains lackluster overall, though it has improved somewhat compared with the prior month, Mysteel Global learned.
For example, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel's tracking averaged 171,033 t/d over September 1-10, higher by 26,509 t/d or 18.3% from that for late August.
China's finished steel prices remained rangebound in early September as high-priced products still struggled to find buyers. As of September 9, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 4,135/tonne ($598/t) including the 13% VAT, gaining a tiny Yuan 1/t from the end of August.
Source:Mysteel Global
