Posted on 24 Oct 2025
China's total rebar output over January-September remained generally stable compared with the first nine months of last year, retreating by a minimal 0.1% on year to reach 143.4 million tonnes, according to the latest release by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on October 23.
Chiefly responsible for the on-year dip in cumulative output was the comparatively large decline in output last month after the January-August period showed an on-year increase. Rebar production in September alone declined by 2.9% on-year to 14.75 million tonnes, the NBS figures show.
In contrast, China's total finished steel output rose by a significant 5.1% on year last month to reach 124.2 million tonnes, according to the NBS data. This took the January-September figure higher by a similarly substantial 5.4% to 1.1 billion tonnes, the bureau's statistics showed.
The fall in rebar production last month reported by the NBS matched the results of Mysteel's survey on the rebar rolling capacity utilization rate and operational rate among the 137 Chinese steel mills regularly monitored nationwide. The rolling capacity usage rate among the mills was assessed at 45.38% on September 30, down by 2.97 percentage points from late-August, while on the same day Mysteel assessed the ops rate at 40.33% on September 30, retreating by 4.26 percentage points compared to August.
Though rebar demand picked up slightly last month, the recovery of demand for construction steel in September including rebar still fell short of expectations. Last month, the daily spot trading volume of long steel products including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses under Mysteel's tracking averaged 102,436 tonnes/day, logging a 4.4% on-month gain but a 16.5% on-year decline.
The subdued demand performance applied downside pressure to rebar prices, continuing to squeeze profit margins for steel mills and curb their production enthusiasm, Mysteel Global noted.
For instance, on September 30 Mysteel assessed China's national spot price for HRB400E 20mm dia rebar at a two-month low of Yuan 3,261/tonne ($458/t) including the 13% VAT, down by Yuan 65/t from the price on August 29.
Source:Mysteel Global
