Posted on 06 Mar 2023
Rebar output among the 137 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel's tracking nationwide increased for the fifth straight week over February 23-March 1, climbing by another 4.6% or 128,600 tonnes on week to hit a 3.5-month high of 2.95 million tonnes, according to the latest weekly survey.
The survey found that integrated mils and mini-mills had resumed production or lifted output during the survey week, and mills in all regions except North China recorded on-week increases in their rebar output. In particular, those in Southwest China's Sichuan, East China's Shandong, South China's Guangdong and Central's China's Hubei all witnessed significant production rises.
Over the survey period, the rebar rolling capacity utilization rate among the surveyed producers gained for the fifth week too, rising by 2.8 percentage points on week to 64.7%, while the operational rate among the rolling mills rose for the sixth week, albeit by a tiny 0.3 percentage point on week to 44.9%, Mysteel's data showed.
China's finished steel prices appeared rangebound during the week amid wavering market sentiment, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, for example, tracking in a V-shape over February 23-March 2. On a weekly basis however, the price declined by Yuan 26/tonne ($3.8/t) on week to Yuan 4,326/t including the 13% VAT as of March 2, according to Mysteel's assessment.
The physical steel market also witnessed a modest fluctuation in spot steel sales, with the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 steel trading houses Mysteel follows averaging 163,252 tonnes/day over February 24-March 2, or 1.5% lower on week.
Despite the uptick in output, rebar inventories at both the 137 steel mills and among the traders Mysteel monitors in 35 cities nationwide decreased. Stocks held by the former fell for the second week, down 2.8% or 93,800 tonnes on week to 3.3 million tonnes as of March 1, while those held by the latter also ended the steady rise that began last December, shedding 0.5% or 49,800 tonnes on week to 9.1 million tonnes as of March 2.
Source:Mysteel Global
