Posted on 20 Apr 2021
Rebar output among the 137 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel’s tracking including integrated mills and re-rollers increased for the fourth week over April 8-14, inching up by 0.4% or 13,800 tonnes on week to 3.58 million tonnes, according to the latest weekly survey.
Over the survey period, rebar rolling capacity utilization among the surveyed producers increased by 0.3 percentage point on week to 78.5%, while the operational rate among the rolling mills gained by around 1 percentage point to 68.5%, Mysteel’s tracking showed.
The country’s spot steel prices remained rangebound last week, though the domestic price of HRB 400E 20mm dia rebar shed some Yuan 28/tonne ($4.3/t) on week to Yuan 5,100/t as of April 14, according to Mysteel’s data.
The high steel prices are placing more pressure on end-users, leading some industry watchers to suspect that the momentum for steel mills to ramp up their output might soon run out of steam. Steelmakers are also bearing high production costs as steelmaking raw materials prices trended upward again last week, they say.
Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines, for example, climbed by $4.65/dmt on week to $177.15/dmt CFR Qingdao as of April 15, a one-month high, according to the related data.
The physical steel market witnessed a modest fluctuation in price in the past week. Spot sales of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese steel traders Mysteel canvasses averaged 248,658 tonnes/day over April 8-14, down 45,862 t/d or 15.6% on week and indicating that more market participants including end-users had adopted a cautious stance towards procurement.
Rebar inventories at both the 137 steel mills and among traders Mysteel monitors in 35 cities nationwide, continued decreasing last week. Those held by the former declined by 3.8% on week, the fifth straight weekly decline, to nearly 4 million tonnes as of April 14. Inventories held by the latter thinned for the sixth week, falling by 7.2% on week to 10.4 million tonnes as of April 15, according to Mysteel’s market surveys.
Table 1: Rebar Production Survey by Region by Apr 14.
Table 2: Wire Rod Production Survey by Region by Apr 14.
Table 3: Rebar Production Survey by Process by Apr 14.
Table 4: Wire Rod Production Survey by Process by Apr 14.
Table 5: Mills' Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks by Region by Apr 14.
Table 6: Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks Survey by Process by Apr 14.
Source:Mysteel Global
