Posted on 22 Feb 2022
Over February 10-16, rebar production among the 137 Chinese steelmakers under Mysteel's tracking reversed up following four successive weeks of drops, rising by 4.9% or 120,000 tonnes on week to 2.56 million tonnes. This result was largely because mini-mills had accelerated the pace of resuming production after the Chinese New Year break, according to Mysteel's weekly survey.
The growth in rebar output was clearly reflected among mills in East China's Zhejiang, North China's Hebei and Southeast China's Fujian, according to survey respondents. However, rebar production among the surveyed mills was still at a low level when compared with the same period a year earlier, with the total being down by 817,600 tonnes or 24.2%, Mysteel's data showed.
During the survey period, both rebar rolling capacity utilization and the operational rates among the surveyed mills recovered on week, with the former gaining by 2.6 percentage points to 56.1%, and the latter increasing by 6.6 percentage points to 47.5%, Mysteel's surveys found.
Chinese steel prices trended downwards last week, mainly due to the declines in raw materials prices amid Beijing's stern warnings about volatile iron ore prices, Mysteel Global noted. On February 18, China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a barometer of the country's steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 4,922/tonne ($778/t) including the 13% VAT, or down by Yuan 110/t on week.
Steel demand from end-users had not fully recovered last week. The spot trading volume of construction steel including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese steel traders under Mysteel's tracking averaged 74,378 tonnes/day over February 14-18, some 22,317 t/d or 23.1% lower from the corresponding period last year.
Rebar stocks at the 137 Chinese steel mills and among the traders Mysteel monitors in 35 cities nationwide showed signs of diverging during the survey week. Stocks at those mills thinned by 2.9% or 93,800 tonnes after three straight weeks of rises to reach 3.16 million tonnes by February 16. In contrast, the tonnage at the surveyed traders mounted for the seventh week in a row, up by 12.8% or about 1 million tonnes to 8.86 million tonnes by February 17.
Table 1: Rebar Production Survey by Region by Feb 16
Table 2: Wire Rod Production Survey by Region by Feb 16
Table 3: Rebar Production Survey by Process by Feb 16
Table 4: Wire Rod Production Survey by Process by Feb 16
Table 5: Mills' Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks by Region by Feb 16
Table 6: Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks Survey by Process by Feb 16
Source:Mysteel Global
