Posted on 16 Mar 2023
China's crude steel output totaled 168.7 million tonnes over January-February, higher by 5.6% from the same period last year, according to the latest data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics on March 15.
For the first two months of 2023, China's daily crude steel output averaged 2.86 million tonnes/day, jumping by 13.8% from the that for last December, Mysteel Global calculated based on the NBS data.
The result indicated that many Chinese steel producers resumed operations or ramped up production during the two months, especially after the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday, Mysteel Global noted.
Both blast furnace (BF) and electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steel mills' capacity utilization increased continuously after the CNY break, with that among the 247 domestic BF steel mills under its regular tracking up for the ninth successive week to 88.03% over March 3-9, and that for the 87 sampled EAF mills also touching a ten-month high of 63.35% during the same period, according to Mysteel's latest weekly survey.
Mills' higher production was mainly attributed to their improved profit margins with the recovery in domestic steel prices, and to the market expectation for better demand from end-users in the coming term thanks to the warming weather in spring days, Mysteel Global learned.
Mysteel's other weekly survey showed that the profitable ratio among the sampled 247 BF mills had recovered to 49.35% as of March 10, the highest since mid-October 2022.
China's finished steel prices recovered gradually after the CNY holiday, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, reaching Yuan 4,307/tonne ($626/t) including the 13% VAT as of February 28, higher by Yuan 143/t compared with the end of last December.
Over January-February, China's total finished steel output registered 206.2 million tonnes, up 3.6% on year, and the country's total production of pig iron jumped by 7.3% on year to 144.3 million tonnes, according to the NBS data.
China's steel output over Jan-Feb
| Jan-Feb 2023 | ||
| Volume (mln t) | YoY (%) | |
| Crude steel | 168.7 | 5.6 |
| Finished steel | 206.23 | 3.6 |
| Pig iron | 144.26 | 7.3 |
Source: NBS
Source:Mysteel Global
