Posted on 02 Aug 2023
Daily crude steel output in China slipped further over the last eleven days of July, with the tonnage down by another 64,500 tonnes/day or 2.1% from mid-July to reach 2.95 million t/d on average, 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.
The continuous fall was mainly due to more steelmakers in northern China conducting maintenance on their blast furnaces in late July to improve local air quality, Mysteel Global learned.
The result was in line with another Mysteel survey which showed that capacity utilization among the 247 BF mills under its regular tracking declined for the third week during July 21-27 to touch a seven-week low of 89.82%, down another 2.14 percentage points from the prior week.
Chinese finished steel prices continued strengthening overall in late July, mainly thanks to the positive sentiment in the domestic market, fuelled by hopes that the central government will soon optimize its property policies in response to changes seen in real estate supply and demand.
As of July 31, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,886/tonne ($542/t) including the 13% VAT, higher by Yuan 54/t from that on July 20.
However, steel demand from end-users had not seen any substantial recovery, given the prevalent high temperatures and frequent heavy rains in many regions of China in summer, Mysteel Global noted. Speculative demand also cooled at the end of July.
Over July 21-31, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil under Mysteel's tracking averaged 149,264 tonnes/day, lower by 7,291 t/d or 4.7% from the average for mid-July.
For the whole month of July, daily crude steel output among the surveyed mills averaged 3 million t/d, up 12,400 t/d or 0.4% on month, or higher by 13.1% compared with the same period last year, the survey showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
