Posted on 23 Nov 2021
Rebar production among the 137 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel's survey retreated for the third week over November 11-17 by another 121,500 tonnes or 4.3% to 2.7 million tonnes. The on-week decline was faster than the 2% on-week slide in the prior week.
With the recent deep falls in domestic finished steel prices, more Chinese steel mills have been operating at a loss, Mysteel Global noted. In addition, with the start of the autumn-winter heating season in many parts of the country, many steelmakers in North China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, in Central China's Henan and East China's Shandong have been cutting their production.
Over the latest survey period, the rebar rolling capacity utilization rate among the surveyed producers declined by 2.7 percentage points to 59.3%, while their operational rate recovered by just 0.3 percentage point on week to 53.8%.
As of November 19, China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment touched an eight-month low of Yuan 4,716/tonne ($739/t) including the 13% VAT, after a sixth straight on-week decline of Yuan 123/t.
Meanwhile, the country's spot steel trading activity showed signs of a moderate recovery last week. The daily trading volume of construction steel including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 traders under Mysteel's tracking gained for the second week over November 15-19, jumping by an average of 15,330 tonnes/day or 8.8% to 190,028 t/d.
Thanks to the improvement in spot trading and lower output among steel mills, rebar inventories at both the 137 mills and among traders in China's 35 cities under Mysteel's survey decreased accordingly, with the former declining by 2.1% or 58,900 tonnes on week to 2.8 million tonnes by November 17, while the latter declined by 5.7% or 286,300 tonnes on week to 4.7 million tonnes by November 18.
Table 1: Rebar Production Survey by Region by Nov 17
Table 2: Wire Rod Production Survey by Region by Nov 17
Table 3: Rebar Production Survey by Process by Nov 17
Table 4: Wire Rod Production Survey by Process by Nov 17
Table 5: Mills' Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks by Region by Nov 17
Table 6: Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks Survey by Process by Nov 17
Source:Mysteel Global
