Posted on 22 Dec 2022
China's daily crude steel output recovered slightly over the middle ten days of this month to average 2.74 million tonnes/day, up 28,000 t/d or 1% from that for early December and ending the continuous fall since the start of October, according to Mysteel's survey among 247 blast-furnace (BF) and 85 electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steel mills nationwide.
The recovery stemmed mainly from the fact that some Chinese BF and EAF mills resumed operation or ramped up production over mid-December, given the rise in domestic steel prices and the relatively steady demand from steel users, Mysteel Global learned.
Over December 9-15, the capacity utilization rate among the 247 BF steel mills increased by 0.64 percentage point on week to 83.64%. During the same period, that for the 85 sampled EAF mills also posted an on-week rise of 0.87 percentage point to 52.18%.
Domestic steel prices strengthened somewhat in mid-December as demand from end-users was almost stable, thanks to the central government's further optimized COVID policies, Mysteel Global noted.
For example, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment under Mysteel's assessment, came in at Yuan 4,101/tonne ($588/t) including the 13% VAT as of December 20, higher by Yuan 102/t from that on December 9.
Over December 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 regular survey registered 140,042 t/d, lower by 4,476 t/d or 3.1% from that for early December.
Besides, the low stocks of steel at Chinese mills' yards also encouraged some steelmakers to increase their production. Mysteel's other weekly survey showed that total inventories of the five major carbon steel products comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate held by the 184 Chinese steel mills under its tracking had decreased to 4.16 million tonnes over December 8-14, the lowest since December 2019.
Source:Mysteel Global
