Posted on 14 Jul 2025
Rebar output among the 137 Chinese steel mills tracked by Mysteel declined during the week of July 3-9 after rising for three weeks straight, the results of the latest weekly production survey show. Output during the week to Wednesday fell by 44,200 tonnes or 2% on week to 2.17 million tonnes, with the volume also being 4.6% lower than that during the same period last year.
During the survey week, the average capacity utilization rate of the rebar rolling mills at the 137 surveyed makers dropped by 1 percentage point on week to 47.5%, while their average operational rate gained by 1 percentage point on week at 43.6%, Mysteel's data indicated.
Survey respondents pointed out that steel mills in Southwest China's Guizhou and Sichuan, Southeast China's Jiangxi and East China's Anhui recorded significant on-week reductions in rebar output, as they either shifted more hot metal to making other steel items or undertook maintenance work on steelmaking facilities.
The physical steel market witnessed an on-week rise in prices over the past week, chiefly underpinned by improved market sentiment and resilient raw materials costs that steelmakers attempted to offset, Mysteel Global notes.
For example, on July 10 Mysteel assessed China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a weathervane of the country's steel-market sentiment, higher by Yuan 23/tonne ($3.2/t) at Yuan 3,269/t including the 13% VAT on week – a 1.5-month high.
In tandem, the Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines index for imported iron ore had swelled by $2.2/dmt during the same period to $98.1/dmt CFR Qingdao, also a 1.5-month high.
Contributing to the bullish sentiment were the central government's recent remarks targeting "involution-style" cutthroat competition among enterprises in many industries, as well as a market rumor that steelmakers in North China's Shanxi had been told by local authorities to curb their crude steel production, as reported.
Despite firmer prices, the summer slowdown is keeping domestic consumption of long steel products subdued. Mysteel's survey of the spot trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses it checks showed that this had dropped by 9.3% or 10,142 tonnes/day on week to average only 98,343 t/d over July 4-10.
On the other hand, rebar stocks at the surveyed 137 mills had edged up 0.2% or 4,100 tonnes on week to 1.81 million tonnes as of July 10, while the tonnage at commercial warehouses in the 35 cities Mysteel follows thinned by 1.4% or 52,500 tonnes on week to 3.59 million tonnes as of the same day.
Source:Mysteel Global
