Posted on 04 Sep 2023
Daily average crude steel output in China hovered relatively high at 3.02 million tonnes/day over the last 11 days of August, increasing by another 4,300 t/d or 0.1% from mid-August, according to Mysteel's estimate based on its survey among 247 blast-furnace (BF) and 87 electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steel mills nationwide.
The slight rise in mills' crude steel production was mainly due to the fact that some Chinese steelmakers resumed operations after completing maintenance works or kept their production at a relatively high level with the expectation for recovery in demand from downstream users during the traditional peak season for steel consumption over September-October, Mysteel Global learned.
Mysteel's other weekly survey showed that capacity utilization among the 247 BF mills under its regular tracking registered 92.27% over August 25-31, up by 0.5 percentage point on week and hitting a new high since early March 2021.
China's domestic finished steel prices kept rangebound in late August, as demand from end-users had not seen any significant recovery so far, and steel transactions in the physical market were dampened by the rains in many regions of the country, Mysteel Global noted.
As of August 31, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,776/tonne ($520/t) including the 13% VAT, down Yuan 1/t from that on August 18.
Over August 21-31, 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 averaged 148,419 t/d, lower by 7,594 t/d compared with that in mid-August.
For the whole month of August, daily crude steel output among the surveyed mills averaged 3.01 million t/d, up 6,000 t/d or 0.2% on month, or higher by 10.2% from the same period last year, Mysteel's survey showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
