Posted on 08 Sep 2021
Daily consumption of billet across Mysteel’s survey sample of 55 steel re-rollers in Tangshan, China’s top billet production base, averaged 112,400 tonnes/day over August 26-September 1 – more than double the volume over August 19-25 – as local steel re-rollers actively resumed operations last week as soon as they were allowed, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey.
During the last weeks of August, some 41 Tangshan steel re-rollers managed to satisfy the local government that their environmental protection upgrades had been completed, enabling the rollers to resume operations one after another, as Mysteel Global reported. The rush of restarts over the previous two weeks resulted in a fast rebound in billet consumption, a local industry source agreed.
“Steel re-rollers have been accelerating the pace of production to rebuild their finished steel stocks (after having been under a production ban for over half a month), so their demand for billet is strong,” she observed.
Thanks for the stronger demand, the Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet price Mysteel assesses increased for the second week last week, rising by another Yuan 110/tonne ($17/t) on week to Yuan 5,060/t EXW and including the 13% VAT as of September 3.
The source noted that for this initial period, the re-rollers mainly consumed the billet stocks at their own yards and occasionally bought from traders to supplement these semis.
Mysteel’s inventory survey showed that billet stocks at the 55 Tangshan steel re-rollers thinned for the second week last week, tumbling by a large 109,800 tonnes or 18% on week to 509,100 tonnes as of September 1.
Nevertheless, billet inventories at 14 steel trading houses in Tangshan including two ports, continued to accumulate for the tenth week over the survey period, rising by another 39,200 tonnes or 4.7% on week to 876,500 tonnes, or the highest so far this year, as imported billets kept arriving at the ports, according to Mysteel’s survey.
Tangshan billet stocks are seen depleting further in the near term as “there is still a gap between local billet supply and demand,” the Tangshan source maintained, noting that billet suppliers in the city are still observing production curbs for air pollution reduction.
Last week over August 27-September 2, daily supply of billet from 30 sample steel producers in Tangshan and nearby regions averaged 28,700 t/d, reversing up 1,700 t/d on week, Mysteel’s survey showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
