Posted on 15 Nov 2021
Over November 5-11, the blast furnace (BF) capacity utilization rate among China's 247 steel mills under Mysteel's survey eased to 75.72%, or hovering at a two-year low since the first week of October 2019 after the fourth week of ebbing by another 0.71 percentage point, as Chinese steel mills had been maintaining low output amid weakening in demand in winter, squeezed steel margins, and ongoing series of restrictive measures.
The BF capacity use was also 16.39 percentage points lower on year, though the previous year's level had been exceptionally high on the boost of government spending and economic recovery.
During the latest survey period, daily molten iron output among these 247 mills, thus, eased by 18,900 tonnes/day on week to 2.03 million t/d in total, though operational rate of their blast furnaces ended three weeks of declines, reversing up by 0.69 percentage point on week to 71.59% with a few furnaces back on stream, but it was still 14.74 percentage points lower on year.
The emergency restriction on steel mills in Tangshan of North China's Hebei was lifted on November 7 on better air quality, as reported, but "market sentiment is still bearish with persistent falls in steel prices and lukewarm steel demand, and many mills will be cautious and reluctant to ramp up their output much despite the lift of the curbing measure," a Shanghai-based market watcher commented.
As of November 11, China's national composite price of the HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment decreased by Yuan 246/tonne ($38.5/t) on week to Yuan 4,838/t and including the 13% VAT, and over November 4-10, China's 237 traders under Mysteel's survey averaged 165,317 tonnes/day or reversing down 7,366 t/d or 4.3% on week.
By November 11, Mysteel's survey showed that these steel mills' imported iron ore inventories in all forms and including all the volumes at steelworks, port stockyards and on the water, reversed down from the prior week's incline, dipping 1.4 million tonnes to 107.1 million tonnes, as they had reduced buying, and the volume would be sufficient for 42.59 days, or 0.37 day shorter on week.
Mysteel's smaller-scale survey on China's 163 steel plants, however, moved to the opposite direction, as their BF capacity use ended its four weeks of declines, reversing up 1.28 percentage points to 58.59% over the same survey period.
Source:Mysteel Global
