Posted on 17 Aug 2023
Production of rebar across China over January-July posted a 2.4% growth on year to reach 137.2 million tonnes, according to the latest data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on August 17 morning.
For July alone, China produced 20.2 million tonnes of rebar, jumping by 18.8% on year, mainly due to the low base in the same period last year, the NBS data showed.
Last month's rebar output, however, was down by 2.3% or 467,000 tonnes on month, Mysteel Global calculated based on the NBS result.
Behind the decline in July rebar output was the fact that some steel mills in northern China conducted maintenance on their blast furnaces at the request of local authorities to improve air quality, while steel producers in Southwest China's Sichuan reined in their output or suspended operations to meet robust demand for electricity during the Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games, sources said.
Mysteel's survey on the rebar rolling capacity utilization rate among 137 Chinese steelmakers under regular tracking was in sync with the NBS result, with the run rate reaching 60.09% by the end of July, inching down by 0.53 percentage point on month.
China's physical steel market saw rebar prices strengthen during July, mainly thanks to improved market sentiment.
For example, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment gained by Yuan 31/tonne ($4.2/t) on month to reach Yuan 3,886/t including the 13% VAT as of July 31.
Meanwhile, higher spot rebar prices saw profit margins for producing rebar among 91 Chinese blast-furnace mills under Mysteel's survey move up by Yuan 5/t on month to average Yuan 89/t last month, as reported.
On the other hand, China's long steel demand from end-users remained lackluster in July -- a traditional low month for steel consumption. The daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel's tracking averaged 149,972 tonnes/day in July, down 3.1% on month.
The country's total finished steel production over January-July totaled 789 million tonnes, up 5.4% on year, among which 116.5 million tonnes were for July, rising 14.5% on year, according to the NBS data.
Source:Mysteel Global
