Posted on 27 Mar 2023
During the first two months of 2023, total production of rebars across China declined by 4.7% on year to reach 33.9 million tonnes, according to new data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on March 23.
Rebar, the most widely produced steel item in China, accounted for 16.4% of the 206.2 million tonnes of finished steel the country produced during January-February, Mysteel Global calculated based on the NBS data.
Mysteel's survey of rebar rolling capacity utilization among the 137 Chinese steel mills it tracks nationwide showed a similar trend with the official data, with the rate averaging 53.96% during the first two months, or lower by 4.1 percentage points on year.
Regarding spot rebar prices, the country's national HRB400E 20mm rebar price, an indicator of domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 4,307/tonne ($632/t) including the 13% VAT as of February 28 – up Yuan 143/t from the end of last year, partly on the support of firming steelmaking raw materials prices during the same period.
Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines, for example, had risen by $6.95/dmt from that on December 30 to reach $124.25/dmt as of February 28.
For spot long-steel sales, Mysteel's survey among the 237 Chinese steel trading houses it checks showed that their spot trading of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil averaged 110,412 tonnes/day during the first two months, or higher by some 7,537 t/d or 7.3% from the corresponding period last year.
Also over January-February, the NBS data showed that China's fixed asset investment had gained by 5.5% on year to reach Yuan 5.36 trillion. Within the total, funding in the property market stood at Yuan 1.37 trillion, down 5.7% on year, while that for infrastructure construction rose by 9% on year, as reported.
Source:Mysteel Global
