Posted on 07 Jul 2021
Daily crude steel output among the member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) reversed down 5.5% or 131,933 tonnes/day from June 11-20, averaging 2.26 million t/d for the last ten days of June, according to the association’s release on July 5, as steel mills in major steelmaking provinces such as Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong had observed steel production curbing as early as on June 24 for the grand celebration in Beijing on July 1.
For the whole month of June, thus, daily crude steel output among CISA’s member mills inched down by 0.8% on month to 2.33 million t/d on average, though it was still 14.1% higher on year, the CISA data showed.
Based on its member mills, CISA estimated the country’s daily crude steel output nationwide at 3.13 million t/d over June 21-30, or down 3.6% from mid-June, though also up 11.4% on year.
Mysteel’s survey among a larger group of China’s 318 steel mills including 247 blast-furnace and 71 electric-arc-furnace mills matched CISA’s estimation, as their daily crude steel output decreased 68,200 t/d or 2.2% in ten days to 3 million t/d on average over June 21-30.
In the last ten days of June, steel mills in the regions that are geologically close to Beijing had been asked to suspend sintering, pelletizing and to bank their blast furnaces for a couple of days around July 1 just to reduce pollution for the grand occasion, the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China.
Operations of the affected steel mills have reportedly resumed normal operations after the event, Mysteel Global understood.
However, Chinese steel mills’ production enthusiasm has been dampened recently by the thinning steel margins and softening demand, and China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel’s assessment, for example, eased Yuan 187/tonne ($29/t) from June 18 to Yuan 4,939/t including the 13% VAT as of June 30, while Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines index grew $1.9/t during the same period to $217/dmt CFR Qingdao.
Lower output saw finished steel stocks at the association’s member mills revers down by 12.3% from June 20 to 13.77 million tonnes by the end of June, though the volume was still 18.5% higher than at the start of 2021, according to CISA.
Spot steel sales with longs in particular eased in the scorching summer, just as Mysteel’s tracking on China’s 237 trading houses suggested, as their daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil fell 18,331 t/d or 9.1% from June 11-20 to 182,530 t/d on average over June 21-30, and the slow sales may persist throughout July.
Source:Mysteel Global
