Posted on 30 Mar 2026
Rebar output among the 137 Chinese steel mills Mysteel regularly tracks declined during the week of March 19-25, with the production volume dropping by 2.7% or 54,600 tonnes on week at 1.98 million tonnes, according to the latest weekly survey results.
Thinning margins led some mills to idle their bar mills during the week and conduct maintenance, resulting in the drop in rebar output, according to market sources.
The results of another Mysteel survey bear this out, with the rebar rolling capacity utilization rate among the sampled steelmakers averaging 43.4% during the week, down by 1.2 percentage points on week.
By province, steelmakers in North China's Hebei, and Northeast China's Heilongjiang and East China's Jiangsu provinces contributed the most to the production decline, according to Mysteel's survey results.
During the week, rebar stocks fell more sharply than last week as the mild spring weather encouraged a pickup in construction activity. Nevertheless, as inventory levels stayed relatively high overall, most traders were still cautious about the near-term market and were willing to lower offer prices to liquidate in-hand stocks, Mysteel Global noted.
As of March 26, rebar inventories piled in commercial warehouses in the 35 Chinese cities Mysteel checks sat at 6.43 million tonnes, down by 1.6% or 104,600 tonnes from a week earlier, but the tonnage was still 5.4% higher compared to the corresponding week last year.
For their part, rebar end-users were wary about stocking bars in bulk, choosing only to purchase cargoes on a need-to basis.
Daily spot trading volume of construction steel items comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses under Mysteel's tracking averaged 95,460 tonnes/day over March 19-25, nudging up by a small 0.7% or 617 t/d on week, according to Mysteel's assessment.
The subdued market sentiment was mirrored by the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, which Mysteel assessed at Yuan 3,333/tonne ($482/t) on March 26, unchanged from the level on March 19.
Source:Mysteel
