Posted on 20 Oct 2025
China's rebar output declined slightly further over October 9-15, with the combined tonnage produced by the 137 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel's tracking at 2.01 million tonnes, down by 1.1% or 22,400 tonnes from the prior week and marking the second consecutive weekly drop, according to Mysteel's latest weekly survey.
The average rebar rolling capacity utilization rate among the 137 sampled mills slid by 0.5 percentage point on week to sit lower at 44.1% during the same survey period.
Notably, rebar production in Northeast China's Heilongjiang, South China's Guangdong and Southwest China's Sichuan provinces posted larger drops as some local mills conducted temporary maintenance or changed rolling plans in the past week, according to the survey results.
Despite some replenishments made by traders and end-users after the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays that ended October 8, overall downstream demand for construction steel items including rebar slowed gradually with the looming of the off-season for steel consumption.
In addition, the intensifying trading tensions between China and the U.S. dampened market sentiment recently, adding pressure on Chinese steel prices, Mysteel Global noted. Mysteel assessed the national spot price for HRB400E 20mm dia rebar at a 3.5-month low of Yuan 3,212/tonne ($451/t) including the 13% VAT on October 16, down by Yuan 45/t from the price on October 9.
The price drops continued to squeeze profit margins for steel mills, curbing their production enthusiasm. As of October 17, only about 137 of the 247 steel mills Mysteel regularly checks reported making a profit on steel sales, the lowest number in six months.
With supply-side pressure easing slightly and post-holiday restocking moves by end-buyers, rebar inventories held by traders in commercial warehouses in the 35 Chinese cities Mysteel regularly follows fell by 2.3% or 108,900 tonnes on week to sit at 4.56 million tonnes by October 16.
Source:Mysteel Global
