Posted on 17 Feb 2025
Daily crude steel output among the member mills of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) continued to rise in the first 10 days of February, maintaining the upward trend that began at the start of this year, according to the association's latest release on Thursday.
The member mills' daily output climbed by 1.1% or 24,000 tonnes/day from late January to an average of 2.13 million t/d over February 1-10, hitting the highest level since late July last year, the CISA data showed.
Market sources attributed the production increase to the fact that most integrated steelmakers had maintained operations on their blast furnaces during the Chinese New Year holiday over January 28-February 4, and some even lifted production in a bid to capture more profits.
Meanwhile, early February's daily crude steel output was higher by 5.9% from the corresponding period last year, according to the release.
Based on the latest results, CISA also estimated the country's daily crude steel output averaged 2.71 million t/d in early February, higher by 1.1% from January 21-31.
Chinese steel prices had been narrowly volatile during February with demand from end-users recovering slowly. The national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, for example, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,479/tonne ($478/t), including the 13% VAT, as of February 10, up by Yuan 5/t from the end of January.
Meanwhile, increased output and slow demand recovery during early February saw the member mills' finished steel stocks mount further, with the tonnage rising by 5.6% or 860,000 tonnes from January 31 to 16.2 million tonnes by February 10, according to the release. This result was also higher by a tiny 0.5% or 80,000 from the previous year.
Source:Mysteel Global
