Posted on 01 Feb 2023
Rebar production among the 137 Chinese steel mills regularly surveyed by Mysteel decreased for the seventh consecutive week over January 19-25, to reach 2.27 million tonnes, hitting Mysteel's record low since the survey was launched on February 27 2015. The decline coincided with the country's Chinese New Year holiday (CNY) during January 21-27.
The data showed that rebar output declined by 1.2% or 27,200 tonnes on week during the survey week, as against the 3.4% or 79,600 tonnes fall in the previous period. Steel mills in Jiangsu and Anhui in East China and Jiangxi in Southeast China witnessed significant slides in production, the survey found.
Over the survey period, the average rebar rolling capacity utilization rate among the surveyed producers slipped 0.6 percentage point on week to 49.8%, while the operational rate recovered by 0.7 percentage point on week to 36.7%.
Meanwhile, rebar inventories at the 137 surveyed mills and at commercial warehouses in 35 Chinese cities Mysteel follows mounted further, with the former surged for the third week, up 47% or 920,700 tonnes on week to 2.9 million tonnes as of January 25. The latter rose for the ninth week in a row, climbing by 17.9% or 1 million tonnes on week to 6.7 million tonnes by January 26, both hitting their six-month highs.
As for domestic steel prices, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, for example, was assessed by Mysteel at a seven-month high of Yuan 4,338/tonne ($642/t) including the 13% VAT as of January 30, higher by Yuan 79/t from that on January 20, the last working day prior to the official start of the CNY holiday.
"In the near term, market participants including mills and traders generally hold a positive view," said a Shanghai-based source. "As CNY fell early this year, end-users may resume their work in advance, thus steel demand may improve earlier than last year," she explained.
Source:Mysteel Global
