Posted on 28 Nov 2022
Over November 17-23, 137 Chinese steel mills quizzed by Mysteel saw their rebar production trend down for the fourth consecutive week, according to Mysteel's weekly survey. The total rebar output dipped another 57,900 tonnes or 2% on week to 2.85 million tonnes, as most steelmakers in China, only excluding those from North and Southwest China, posted lower rebar output on week.
However, these mills' rebar production was still 4.7% higher than the 2.72 million tonnes during the corresponding period last year, Mysteel Global noted.
During the period, the rebar rolling capacity utilization rate among these surveyed steelmakers slipped 1.3 percentage points on week to 62.5%, and their operational rate also inched down by 0.7 percentage point to 46.9%, both registering a four-week fall, according to Mysteel's surveys.
China's rebar prices lost steam on softening steel demand, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment losing Yuan 22/tonne ($3.1/t) on week to Yuan 3,943/t including the 13% VAT as of November 24.
Over November 18-24, spot sales of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel's tracking eased by a large 30,396 tonnes/day or 17.9% on week to 139,164 t/d on average, as consumption of construction steel eased due to seasonal reasons, coupled with the fact that recent COVID-19 surges across the country had taken a toll on warehousing and logistics services, sources said.
On the other hand, rebar inventories at the 137 surveyed mills ended a four-week decline, recovering by 2.3% or 40,500 tonnes on week to 1.8 million tonnes as of November 23.
Meanwhile, as of November 24, the volume at commercial warehouses in 35 Chinese cities under Mysteel's monitoring had thinned for the seventh week by another 2.9% or 104,300 tonnes to hit a 10-month low of 3.5 million tonnes.
Source:Mysteel Global
