Posted on 16 Jun 2025
The number of profitable blast-furnace steel mills in China remained stable overall during the past month, mainly thanks to the softening of major steelmaking raw materials prices which lowered their production costs, the latest Mysteel weekly survey suggests. Unfortunately for the mills however, lackluster demand caused prices of finished steel to weaken at the same time.
Mysteel's latest weekly survey showed that as of June 12, some 58.4% of the 247 sampled BF steel mills under its regular tracking reported making money when selling their finished steel, with the ratio lower by just 0.87 percentage point on month.
Production costs among the domestic steel mills declined over the past month, as the prices of raw materials such as iron ore and coke lost ground – reductions that bolstered their margins on finished steel sales.
Over June 6-12, the average cost of making hot metal among the 114 domestic mills monitored by Mysteel was Yuan 2,243/tonne ($312/t) excluding the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 120/t from one month earlier.
On June 12, Mysteel's SEADEX 62% Australian Fines iron ore index was assessed at an 8.5-month low of $94.35/dmt CFR Qingdao, lower by $6.5/dmt on month. At the same time, the national composite coke price under Mysteel's assessment had fallen by Yuan 165.5/t on month to Yuan 1,174.1/t including the 13% VAT, marking the lowest since September 2016.
Although the traditional summer lull in steel consumption has caused China's finished steel prices to gradually weaken due to the thinning of end-user demand, the impact on steelmakers had been partly offset by their reduced production costs.
For example, the national average price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment under Mysteel's assessment, came in at Yuan 3,231/t including the 13% VAT as of June 12, down by Yuan 86/t on month. During the same period, the national average price of Q235 4.75mm hot-rolled coil (HRC) under Mysteel's assessment had slipped by Yuan 88/t to Yuan 3,242/t including the 13% VAT.
However, the mills' profits have been squeezed, with some makers slowing their production pace to ease the market pressure from the supply side, Mysteel Global noted.
Mysteel's latest weekly survey among the sampled steel mills showed that over June 5-11, total production of the five major carbon steel items comprising rebar, wire rod, HRC, cold-rolled coil and medium plate touched a three-month low of 8.6 million tonnes, down by 1.1% on month.
Source:Mysteel Global
