Posted on 04 Jan 2023
China's daily crude steel output resumed declining again during December 21-31 after the rise in mid-December, with the tonnage down 35,400 tonnes/day or 1.3% from the prior ten days to average 2.71 million t/d, according to Mysteel's survey among 247 blast-furnace (BF) and 85 electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steel mills nationwide.
The retreat occurred mainly because some steel producers, EAF mills in particular, conducted maintenance on their steelmaking facilities at the end of year, or slowed their production pace given the weakening demand from steel users, Mysteel Global learned.
For example, the capacity utilization rate among the 247 BF steel mills under Mysteel's regular tracking registered 82.59% over December 23-29, edging up 0.2 percentage point from the previous week, while that among the 85 EAF steel mills under its survey slipped to 44.76% during the same period, down for the second week by another 3.9 percentage points on week.
Steel demand from end-users weakened further as more construction companies started to suspend operations on building projects gradually, with the fall in temperatures in northern China and the looming Chinese New Year holiday in late January, Mysteel Global noted.
Over December 21-31, 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 averaged 112,108 t/d, down 27,934 t/d or 20% from that for mid-December.
However, China's domestic steel prices strengthened in late December, driven by the better performance of the futures market, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment under Mysteel's assessment, growing to Yuan 4,164/tonne ($603/t) including the 13% VAT as of December 30, higher by Yuan 63/t compared with ten days earlier.
For the whole month of December, daily crude steel output among the surveyed mills reached 2.72 million t/d on average, down for the third consecutive month by another 47,700 t/d or 1.7% on month, the survey showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
