Posted on 22 Sep 2022
China's daily crude steel output recovered further in the middle ten days of September, with the volume increasing to a three-month high of 2.89 million tonnes/day on average, up another 25,900 t/d or 0.9% from the prior ten days, Mysteel estimated, based on its regular survey among 247 blast-furnace and 85 electric-arc-furnace steel mills nationwide.
The rise in output in mid-September occurred mainly because some BF steelmakers resumed operation or steadily ramped up production after the previous production cutbacks, while production among EAF steel mills slowed down as many had begun losing money with the increase in scrap prices, Mysteel Global noted.
The findings were in line with the result of Mysteel's other survey, which showed that the capacity utilization rate among the 247 sampled BF mills grew for the seventh consecutive week by another 0.76 percentage point on week to 88.32% on average over September 9-15, while that for the 85 surveyed EAF mills retreated to 51.84% during the same period, down 0.25 percentage point from the previous week.
China's finished steel prices edged down in mid-September as demand from end-users in eastern China had been impacted by the arrival of Typhoon Muifa. Besides, speculative demand was also weak with the negative sentiment in the domestic market, Mysteel Global learned.
As of September 20, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 4,106/tonne ($582/t) including the 13% VAT, representing a decline of Yuan 29/t from that on September 9.
Over September 11-20, 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 registered 157,556 t/d on average, lower by 13,477 t/d or 7.9% from that for early September.
Source:Mysteel Global
