Posted on 10 Nov 2026
Hot-rolled coil (HRC) production among the 37 Chinese steelmakers regularly surveyed by Mysteel rebounded for a third week during October 29-November 4, rising by 31,900 tonnes or 1.1% on week to reach 2.91 million tonnes, the results of Mysteel's latest survey showed. HRC output had crept higher by 0.68% during October 22-28 and by 0.93% the week before, as reported.
Production at mills that had previously resumed operation after maintenance continued to climb during the survey period, lifting overall HRC output, the survey findings showed. The average capacity utilization rate for hot strip mills operated by the 37 steelmakers increased by 0.82 percentage point on week to 74.42% during the survey week.
On the other hand, production on one mill in North China was suspended during the survey week for an overhaul, causing the average operation rate among the 64 production lines installed at the surveyed mills to retreat by 1.57 percentage points on week to 76.56%.
The uptick in hot coil output caused HRC inventories held by those 37 sampled mills to mount further by 32,800 tonnes or 4.8% on week to 710,000 tonnes as of November 5. This was still lower by 8.3% on year, though.
In contrast, retail HRC inventories had declined for the fourth consecutive week, with the volume of hot coils sitting in the 194 commercial warehouses Mysteel checks nationwide dipping by 1.9% or 93,400 tonnes on week to 4.73 million tonnes by November 5.
The steady drawdown of hot coil retail stocks seen during the past few weeks helped lend some support to coil prices. At the same time, market participants led by the mills themselves were resisting any further decline in HRC prices that had already fallen for eight straight weeks. Both prompted a small rally in hot coil spot and futures prices in the latter half of last week, an industry watcher observed.
By November 6, the most-traded HRC contract for next January delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed the daytime session at Yuan 3,195/tonne ($478.7/t), higher by Yuan 16/t or 0.5% from the prior week's settlement price, the bourse's data showed.
The same day, Mysteel assessed the national spot price of Q235B 4.75mm HRC at Yuan 3,223/t including the 13% VAT, inching up by Yuan 3/t or 0.09% on week, the first tentative increase in eight weeks.
Meanwhile, on November 8, many cities in North China's Hebei province such as Tangshan, Handan and Xingtai announced emergency measures in response to heavy atmospheric pollution. The scheduled restrictions on use of facilities such as sinter plants took effect on Monday. This may limit further increases in hot coil production at integrated mills this week and lend some support to the hot coil prices in the short run, Mysteel suggests.
Source:Mysteel Global
