Posted on 16 Feb 2023
Daily crude steel output among the member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) during the first 10 days of February continued the rise that began in early January to hit the highest average since late October last year, according to the association's latest data released on Wednesday.
Average daily output over February 1-10 climbed further by 3.8% or 74,900 tonnes/day from late January to average 2.06 million t/d, the CISA data showed.
Market sources attributed the rise in output to the fact that more mills had resumed normal operations after maintenance stoppages during the Chinese New Year holiday (over January 21-27).
Based on the latest results, CISA also estimated the country's daily crude steel output averaged 2.53 million t/d during the first 10 days of this month, higher by 2.9% from January 21-31.
The results of Mysteel's survey among a larger group of the 334 Chinese steel mills comprising 247 blast-furnace and 87 electric-arc-furnace makers were in line with CISA's analysis, as the sampled mills' daily crude steel output during early February grew further by 2.9% or 76,700 t/d from late January to 2.69 million t/d on average.
Chinese steel prices showed signs of softening in early February as actual demand from end-users had yet to pick up fully. As of February 10, the country's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, for example, had declined by Yuan 78/tonne ($11.4/t) from the end of January to Yuan 4,260/t including the 13% VAT, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Meanwhile, higher output and slack demand during early February saw the member mills' finished steel stocks mount further, with the tonnage rising by 9.4% or 1.5 million tonnes from January 31 to around 18 million tonnes by February 10, according to the release.
Source:Mysteel Global
