Posted on 21 Apr 2026
Hot-rolled coil (HRC) production among the 37 Chinese steelmakers regularly surveyed by Mysteel inched up by 10,000 tonnes or 0.33% on week to 3.03 million tonnes during April 9-15, as some North China-based mills ended brief maintenance work and resumed normal operation.
During the survey week, the capacity utilization rate of the hot strip mills operated by the 37 sampled mills rose 0.26 percentage point to 77.31%, while their average operation rate dipped 1.56 percentage points to 78.13%.
Although HRC output has remained relatively steady recently, orders received by mills from manufacturing firms have eased slightly, Mysteel's latest survey showed, pointing to weakening demand for the flat steel.
As a result, hot coil inventories held by the 37 surveyed mills snapped a six-week decline to register a small growth of 6,900 tonnes on week to reach 801,200 tonnes by April 16.
On the other hand, hot coil stocks at the 194 commercial warehouses nationwide continued to thin, declining by 1.5% or 72,800 tonnes on week to 4.84 million tonnes as of the same day, according to Mysteel's tracking.
Currently, a kind of balance in HRC supply-demand fundamentals has been achieved, market watchers say. This, coupled with firm support of raw material prices recently, has boosted mills' and traders' confidence to raise their offering prices for hot coils.
Last Tuesday on April 14, Angang Steel Co and Bengang Steel Plates Co, two leading flat steel makers based in Northeast China's Liaoning province, raised their list prices for HRC for domestic sales in May by Yuan 100/tonne ($15/t), following Baosteel's pricing adjustment of the same amount for May two weeks ago.
Amid the mills' price hikes, on April 17 Mysteel assessed the national spot price of Q235 4.75mm HRC higher by a sizeable Yuan 28/t on week at Yuan 3,340/t including the 13% VAT.
The same day, the most-traded HRC contract for October delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed at Yuan 3,324/t, higher by a marked Yuan 53/t or 1.6% from the settlement price one week before, according to the bourse's data.
Source:Mysteel Global
