Posted on 24 Jul 2023
Daily crude steel output in China continued declining over the middle ten days of July, with the tonnage falling by another 16,300 tonnes/day or 0.5% from the prior ten days to average 3.02 million t/d, according to Mysteel's estimate based on survey responses from the 247 blast-furnace (BF) and 87 electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steel mills it monitors nationwide.
During the period, some domestic steelmakers conducted maintenance on their steelmaking facilities as demand from end-users was affected by the usual summer slowdown. This had resulted in the slight output decrease, Mysteel Global noted.
Mysteel's other weekly survey showed that capacity utilization among the 247 BF mills under its tracking slipped for the second week to 91.16% during July 14-20, inching down 0.04 percentage point on week.
China's finished steel prices recovered in mid-July, thanks to the better performance of spot sales, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment under Mysteel's assessment reaching Yuan 3,832/tonne ($533/t) including the 13% VAT as of July 20, gaining Yuan 30/t from ten days earlier.
Over July 11-20, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel's regular survey registered 156,555 t/d, up 14,536 t/d or 10.2% from early July.
Speculative demand improved somewhat during the middle ten days of this month, as domestic market sentiment had been boosted by strengthening prices in the derivative market, Mysteel Global learned.
On Thursday, the most-traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for delivery in October closed the daytime trading session at Yuan 3,794/t, higher by Yuan 79/t from the settlement price on July 10, according to the exchange's data.
Source:Mysteel Global
