Posted on 19 Oct 2021
Over January-September, the growth in China's crude steel output slowed to 2% on year to 805.9 million tonnes against the 5.3% on-year rise for January-August, and the daily crude steel output for September fell to a new low since January 2019, Mysteel Global noted from the release by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on October 18, due to the wider-range and severer power rationing in the country.
For September alone, China’s daily crude steel output fell on month for the fifth consecutive month by 8.4% to about 2.46 million tonnes/day, with the monthly output reaching 73.75 million tonnes, down 11.4% on month or 21.2% lower on year against the 13.2% on-year fall in August, Mysteel Global calculated based on the NBS data.
Many steel mills in areas such as East China's Jiangsu, Southeast China's Fujian, Southwest China's Guangxi and Yunnan, had to lower or halt their steel production in September because of severer power rationing either due to supply shortage or the local authorities’ control over power consumption and intensity among local power-intensive enterprises, as reported.
Over September 24-30, for example, iron and steelmaking capacity utilization among either the blast-furnace (BF) or electric-arc-furnace (EAF) mills fell further, according to Mysteel’s tracking, with that among China’s 247 BF mills down for the fourth week to a two-year low of 78.69%, and that among China’s 71 EAF mills fell to a seven-month low of 44.13% after three-weeks of declines, as reported.
Over January-September, China’s finished steel output grew 4.6% on year to about 1.02 billion tonnes, but the growth was also short of the 7.3% on-year gain for January-August, as that for September fell 14.8% on year or down 6.3% on month to approximately 102 million tonnes, according to the NBS data.
Lower crude and finished steel output for September while better demand, in turn, supported China’s domestic steel prices, and the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel’s assessment, for example, reached Yuan 5,925/tonne ($921/t) including the 13% VAT as of September 30, or up Yuan 607/t on month.
For September, spot trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among China’s 237 trading houses under Mysteel’s tracking averaged 216,273 t/d, or having recovered 31,587 t/d or 17.1% on month with weather getting pleasant for outdoor construction works in most regions of China.
For October, China’s crude steel output may recover on month modestly on high steel margins and less stringent power rationing in places such as Jiangsu, as reported.
Source:Mysteel Global
