Posted on 22 Feb 2023
China's daily crude steel output recovered at a faster pace over the middle ten days of February, with the tonnage increasing by another 156,200 tonnes/day or 5.8% from the prior ten days to average 2.85 million t/d, the highest since last November, according to Mysteel's survey among 247 blast-furnace (BF) and 87 electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steel mills across the country.
The increase in mid-February was mainly attributed to the fast resumption of production among more EAF steel producers. Meanwhile, production at domestic BF steelmakers also stayed high during the survey period, with the market expecting a further recovery in steel demand in the coming term, Mysteel Global learned.
Mysteel's other weekly survey showed that over February 10-16, the capacity utilization rate among the 87 sampled EAF mills jumped by 25.01 percentage points on week to 48.34%, while that among the 247 domestic BF steel mills under Mysteel's tracking posted another on-week rise of 0.82 percentage point to 85.75% during the same period.
Domestic steel demand recovered gradually as more end-users have returned to the market for replenishment, lifting sentiment in the domestic market and lending some support to steel prices.
Over February 11-20, 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 153,272 t/d, higher by 66,086 t/d from the average over February 6-10. Mysteel had restarted collating the data on February 6 after the Chinese New Year holiday had ended.
China's finished steel prices recovered slightly over mid-February, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment under Mysteel's assessment, reaching Yuan 4,297/tonne ($625/t) including the 13% VAT as of February 20, up Yuan 37/t from ten days earlier.
Source:Mysteel Global
