Posted on 30 Jan 2023
China's daily crude steel output slipped continuously over the middle ten days of January to average 2.59 million tonnes/day, down another 15,000 t/d or 0.6% from the prior ten days and refreshing the lowest since last August, according to Mysteel's survey among 247 blast-furnace (BF) and 85 electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steel mills nationwide.
The further decrease was mainly due to that more Chinese EAF steel producers halted production in mid-January, as the domestic steel market quietened further with the coming Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday over January 21-27, and market participants including traders and end-users had left the market in advance to celebrate the most important festival in China, Mysteel Global learned.
Mysteel's other survey showed that the capacity utilization rate among the same 85 EAF steel mills had dropped to 4.49% over January 13-19, falling for the fifth straight week by a steeper 14.92 percentage points on week.
China's steel prices kept firm in mid-January on support of mills' higher production costs and market participants' expectation for better steel demand after the CNY break, Mysteel Global noted.
As of January 20, Mysteel's assessment of the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, came in at Yuan 4,259/tonne ($628/t) including the 13% VAT, higher by Yuan 30/t from ten days earlier. During the same period, Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines increased by $2.9/dmt to $124.5/dmt CFR Qingdao.
With the thinning demand from end-users in mid-January, stocks of finished steel comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate at traders' warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities under Mysteel's tracking mounted to a four-month high of 18.6 million tonnes over January 13-19, up for the fourth consecutive week by a sharper 10.5% on week against the on-week rise of 9.4% over the prior week.
Source:Mysteel Global
