Posted on 10 Feb 2026
Hot-rolled coil (HRC) production among the 37 Chinese steelmakers regularly surveyed by Mysteel dipped by a negligible 500 tonnes on week to remain largely stable at 3.09 million tonnes during January 29-February 4, the latest survey results showed. This was 4.6% lower on year, Mysteel Global noted.
The HRC rolling capacity utilization rate among the sampled mills inched down by 0.02 percentage point on week to average 78.98% during the survey period, while their average operational rates stayed unchanged for the second straight week at 78.13%, according to the survey findings.
With Chinese New Year (CNY) only one week away, production activity at many coil coating works and other HRC end users had ground to a halt, with workers also taking leave to start their holidays. As a result, demand for hot coils shrank further, causing the stocks of coils held by both traders and mills to mount slightly during the survey week.
By February 5, hot coil inventories at the 194 commercial warehouses in the 55 Chinese cities Mysteel monitors had ended their three-week decline to rise by a small 1.4% or 53,600 tonnes on week to 3.81 million tonnes. Similarly, HRC stocks held by the surveyed mills had also moved up by 1.9% or 15,000 tonnes on week to sit slightly higher at 787,500 tonnes as of the same day.
With trading slowing down further this week as more market participants shutter their businesses and start CNY celebrations, hot coil prices are expected to stay rangebound on week, with limited downside-room going forward, market sources predicted.
On February 6, Mysteel assessed the national price for Q235 4.75mm hot coils at Yuan 3,284/tonne ($474/t) including the 13% VAT, down by Yuan 15/t or 0.45% on week.
In parallel, the most traded HRC contract for May delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed the daytime trading session at Yuan 3,251/t last Friday, lower by Yuan 51/t or 1.5% from the previous week's settlement price.
Source:Mysteel Global
