Posted on 12 Oct 2026
Hot-rolled coil (HRC) production among the 37 Chinese steelmakers surveyed by Mysteel during October 1-7 - the week coinciding with China's National Day holiday - edged higher by 50,400 tonnes or 1.76% on week to sit at 2.92 million tonnes, the results of Mysteel's latest survey showed. This was still lower by 9.6% on year though.
Most surveyed mills maintained normal operation during the holiday, while production at mills that had previously restarted operation after maintenance stoppages also recovered gradually during the break, causing total output during the week to increase slightly, Mysteel Global learned.
As such, the average capacity utilization rate for strip mills among the surveyed 37 steelmakers gained by 1.29 percentage points from pre-holiday level to sit at 74.63% during the survey period, while the average operation rate among the 64 production lines of these surveyed mills stood unchanged on week at 79.69%.
On the other hand, trading activity for hot coils in most regional markets in China stayed subdued during the holiday, as traders and end-buyers had left work for the break, Mysteel's survey showed.
As hot coil production didn't ease while transaction almost stalled, HRC inventories at both mills and traders climbed during the survey week.
By October 8, HRC inventories held by those 37 sampled mills under Mysteel's monitoring had risen for the fourth straight week by 3.6% or 26,500 tonnes on week to reach 757,000 tonnes. The same day, retail HRC inventories sitting in the 194 commercial warehouses Mysteel checks nationwide also swelled by a marked 6.7% or 319,300 tonnes from pre-holiday level to 5.08 million tonnes.
Domestic steel market remained cautious after the break, this, together with waning cost support and elevated inventories, had led hot coil prices to end weak on October 8, the first trading day after the holiday.
By October 9, Mysteel assessed the national spot price of Q235B 4.75mm HRC at Yuan 3,292/tonne ($491/t) including the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 15/t or 0.45% from September 30 – the last working day before the break.
The same day, the most-traded HRC contract for next January delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed the daytime session at Yuan 3,255/t, down by Yuan 27/t or 0.82% from the settlement price of September 30, the bourse's data showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
