Posted on 16 Jun 2023
China's crude steel output posted an on-year fall of 7.3% to reach 90.12 million tonnes in May, which took the total production for the first five months to 444.6 million tonnes, still higher by 1.6% compared with the same period last year, according to the latest data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on June 15.
Last month, daily crude steel output decreased to 2.91 million tonnes/day on average, sliding by 5.9% from that for April, Mysteel Global calculated based on the NBS data.
China's steel output stayed at a relatively low level last month. Although some steel mills resumed operations in the second half of May in response to their improved profits, the lift in steel production was limited as demand from end-users remained lackluster with the weakness of steel-consuming industries, especially real estate development, Mysteel Global learned.
During May, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 traders nationwide under Mysteel's regular survey averaged 156,699 t/d, lower by 6,853 t/d or 4.2% on month.
The NBS results for output were in line with Mysteel's survey, which showed that capacity utilization among the 247 blast furnace steel mills under its tracking hovered below 90% in May to register 89.93% over May 19-25, down 0.7 percentage point on month. At the same time, that among Mysteel's 87 sampled electric-arc-furnace mills witnessed a sharper fall of 6.89 percentage points during the same period to 49.37%.
However, China's finished steel prices continued to lose ground last month with the thin sales and negative sentiment in the domestic market, Mysteel Global noted.
As of May 31, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,680/tonne ($513/t) including the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 197/t from the end of April and marking the lowest level since May 9 2020.
According to the NBS data, the country's finished steel output decreased by 1.3% on year to 1.19 million tonnes in May, while the total volume for the first five months of this year came in at 5.57 million tonnes, growing at the slower pace of 3.2% on year as against the on-year rise of 5.2% over January-April.
China's steel output over Jan-May
| May 2023 | Jan-May 2023 | ||
Volume (mln t) | YoY (%) | Volume (mln t) | YoY (%) | |
Crude steel | 90.12 | -7.3 | 444.63 | 1.6 |
Finished steel | 118.47 | -1.3 | 557.06 | 3.2 |
Pig iron | 77 | -4.8 | 374.74 | 3.2 |
Source: NBS
Source:Mysteel Global
