Posted on 13 May 2025
Rebar production among the 137 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel's tracking declined over May 1-7, falling by 4.2% or 98,500 tonnes on week to reach a two-month low of 2.24 million tonnes, according to the latest weekly survey.
Over the survey period, rebar rolling capacity utilization among the surveyed producers decreased, easing by 2.2 percentage points on week to 49%, Mysteel's data showed. The operational rate among the rolling mills also slipped by 1.3 percentage points on week at 41.3%.
Some mills in East China's Jiangsu, Central China's Hubei and Southeast China's Jiangxi commenced maintenance stoppages on their blast furnaces or rolling mills, and switched from producing rebar to flat steel products such as hot-rolled coils and cold-rolled coils, the survey results showed.
China's spot steel prices showed signs of weakening last week after the Labour Day holiday ended on May 5, mainly due to the low demand, Mysteel Global notes. Also, the raft of new stimulus policies announced by the central government on May 7 had not lent substantial support to the domestic steel market, sources said.
As of May 9, Mysteel assessed China's national HRB400E 20mm dia rebar price, a bellwether of the country's steel-market sentiment, at Yuan 3,302/tonne ($457/t) including the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 49/t from the price on April 30, the last working day before the five-day holiday.
The physical steel market saw trading volume stay lacklustre last week, as demand from end-users had not risen markedly after the holiday. Meanwhile, high temperatures and heavy downpours in parts of southern China had also dampened steel consumption, Mysteel Global observed.
Consequently, the spot sales of long steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 steel traders nationwide regularly sampled by Mysteel averaged only 102,704 tonnes/day over May 6-9, down 8.6% from the last four working days ahead of the holiday.
In addition, the holiday mode saw rebar inventories at the 137 mills mount as of May 8, swelling by 8.7% or 151,100 tonnes from April 30 to 1.88 million tonnes, while the tonnage held by traders that Mysteel monitors in 35 cities nationwide thinned at a slower pace over the same period, down a small 1.2% or 54,800 tonnes to 4.65 million tonnes.
Source:Mysteel Global
