Posted on 18 Jun 2021
Daily crude steel output among the member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) reversed up by 2.2% or 49,176 tonnes/day from May 21-31, averaging 2.34 million t/d for the first ten days of June, according to the association’s release on June 16.
By June 10, finished steel stocks at the association’s member mills recovered by 6.1% from May 31 to 14.23 million tonnes, and it was also 22.5% higher than the level at the start of 2021, according to CISA data.
Based on its member mills, CISA estimated the country’s daily crude steel output nationwide at 3.21 million t/d over June 1-10, or inching up 0.04% from May 21-31 or also up 12.9% on year.
Mysteel’s survey among a larger group of China’s 318 mills including 247 blast-furnace and 71 electric-arc-furnace mills matched CISA’s estimation, as their daily crude steel output increased by 21,900 t/d or 0.7% from the last eleven days of May to 3.08 million t/d on average over June 1-10, and the latest number, again, hit a new record high since Mysteel commenced the survey in January 2018.
China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a barometer of the country’s spot steel market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 5,184/tonne ($810/t) including the 13% VAT as of June 10, down Yuan 73/t from that on May 31, but steel margins still ranged around Yuan 200-600/t depending on the product with rebar at the low end, according to Mysteel’s monthly survey among China’s 91 blast-furnace steel mills, as reported.
Spot steel sales usually soften with the hot and humid weather in summer in China, but steel price stabilization over June 1-10 saw the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among China’s 237 steel traders still up 6,512 tonnes/day or 3.3% from late May to 201,759 t/d, Mysteel’s other survey showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
