Posted on 12 Jan 2022
Over December 21-31, daily crude steel output among the member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) recovered by 10.7% or 201,700 tonnes/day from mid-December to 2.09 million t/d on average, according to the association's latest sharing on January 10, as some steel producers in East China had resumed production after completing maintenance stoppages.
For the whole month of December, daily crude steel output among these mills grew by 14.4% on month to average 1.98 million t/d. However, this was still down by 9.8% on year, the CISA data showed.
Based on the latest result, CISA estimated the national daily crude steel output had reached 2.63 million t/d on average during the last 11 days of December, up 9.7% from December 11-20. In contrast, finished steel stocks at these member mills declined by 16.8% or 2.27 million tonnes from December 20 to approximately 11.3 million tonnes by December 31. This was also 2.8% lower than at the beginning of 2021.
Mysteel's survey among 247 blast-furnace and 71 electric-arc-furnace mills nationwide showed a similar trajectory over the same period, as their daily steel output mounted 1.5% or 34,800 t/d from the prior ten days to average 2.39 million t/d for late December.
As for steel demand, this shrank further in late December as year's end loomed and seasonal factors impacted. Over December 21-31, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese traders Mysteel tracks averaged 144,830 t/d, down 30,876 t/d or 17.6% from mid-December's average.
Chinese steel prices headed downward in late December due to the easing of demand while output stayed high. The country's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar for example, fell by Yuan 151/tonne ($23.7/t) from December 20 to reach Yuan 4,726/t including the 13% VAT as of December 31, a more than one-month low.
Source:Mysteel Global
