Posted on 16 Aug 2023
China's production of pig iron rose by 3.5% on year to reach 528.9 million tonnes over January-July this year, with the on-year growth rate being faster than the 2.7% recorded during the first six months, the latest data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday morning show.
Compared with pig iron, China's crude steel production increased at a slower pace of 2.5% on year during the same period, Mysteel Global noted.
During July alone, China produced 77.6 million tonnes of pig iron, 10.1% higher than during the same month last year, the NBS data showed. On a per-day basis last month, production averaged 2.5 million tonnes/day, lower by some 63,000 t/d or 2.5% on month.
Maintenance stoppages increased among Chinese blast furnace (BF) steelmakers in July, causing daily pig iron output to dip on month, Mysteel Global noted. Over July 21-27, the BF capacity utilization rate among the 247 domestic steel mills under Mysteel's regular survey stood at 89.82%, lower by 2.16 percentage points from the average during June 23-29.
Steelmakers in northern regions of China had been ordered by local authorities to reduce production from time to time last month to reduce atmospheric pollution, Mysteel Global noted.
Moreover, in late July, some steel mills in North and East China had received verbal requests from local governments that they should keep their crude steel output for 2023 flat on year, and this made steelmakers more cautious about production, as reported.
However, domestic pig iron output still hovered at a high level because the steelmakers generally saw their profit margins improve last month, Mysteel's survey showed. By the end of July, around 65% of the sampled 247 steel mills under Mysteel's coverage were enjoying healthy profits.
The mills' high production also provided support for prices of steelmaking raw materials, Mysteel Global learned. During July, China's coke market witnessed three rounds of coke price hikes that added Yuan 200-220/tonne ($27.7-30.4/t) to the steelmakers' coke costs, according to Mysteel's tracking.
Source:Mysteel Global
