Posted on 02 Jun 2026
After the previous week’s small rebound, hot-rolled coil (HRC) production among the 37 Chinese steelmakers regularly surveyed by Mysteel edged down again during May 21-27, with the volume declining by a small 1.3% on week to 2.96 million tonnes, the lowest level since the March 5-11 period, the results of Mysteel's latest survey showed.
One mill in North China stopped production during the survey week to conduct an overhaul, while most hot strip mills operated by the 37 sampled mills continued running normally during the survey week, Mysteel Global noted.
China's HRC production has been relatively restrained so far this year, even during the spring peak season for steel consumption, an industry watcher noted.
The average operation rate among the surveyed strip mills fell by 1.56 percentage points on week to 78.13% during May 21-27, while their capacity utilization rate declined by 0.95 percentage point to 75.5%. However, when compared with the same period last year, they were lower by 1.56 and a large 6.14 percentage points respectively, according to the survey result.
On the demand side, currently most steel mills still have enough orders in hand to keep them busy, with HRC exports still able to absorb some of the supply. Therefore, by May 28 the stocks of coils held by the 37 surveyed mills had fallen by 55,800 tonnes or 7.1% on week to 729,400 tonnes.
However, with the summer off-season for consumer goods consumption approaching, demand from manufacturing firms for the flat steel product also showed some signs of easing.
By May 28, HRC inventories in the 194 commercial warehouses nationwide that Mysteel monitors had mounted by 61,000 tonnes or 1.3% on week to 4.59 million tonnes.
On the other hand, market concerns over near-term coal supply due to safety checks across mines in North China last week fueled a rally in steel prices including HRC last Monday, before easing a few days later.
On May 29, the most-traded HRC contract for October delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed at Yuan 3,382/tonne ($500/t), lower by a tiny Yuan 3/t or 0.09% from the settlement price one week before, the exchange's data showed.
The same day, the national spot price of Q235 4.75mm HRC came in at Yuan 3,425/t including the 13% VAT, also down by a minimal Yuan 1/t on week according to Mysteel's assessment.
Source:Mysteel Global
