Posted on 11 Sep 2023
Rebar production among the 137 Chinese steel mills regularly monitored by Mysteel decreased for the seventh straight week during August 31-September 6 to reach 2.54 million tonnes, as many mills had switched from producing rebar to other steel products or conducted maintenance on their facilities, according to Mysteel's weekly production survey.
The new data showed that rebar output fell by 2% or 51,400 tonnes on week during the survey period. Steelmakers in Hebei in North China, Guangxi in Southwest China and Jiangsu and Shandong in East China witnessed significant slides in rebar production, the survey found.
Over the survey period, the average rebar rolling capacity utilization rate among the surveyed producers slipped for the seventh week, down 1.1 percentage points on week at 55.6%. Meanwhile, the operational rate reversed down 0.6 percentage point on week to 45.3%.
As for demand, the spot sales of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 steel traders nationwide sampled by Mysteel saw an uptick of 2.4% or 3,453 tonnes/day on week to average 145,824 t/d over September 1-7, well below the threshold of 200,000 t/d for what should be a strong period for steel consumption.
Market sources remarked that actual demand from end-users has yet to achieve a marked recovery, adding that they are becoming less confident about better demand going forward.
As of September 7, China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of the country's steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,820/tonne ($520/t) including the 13% VAT, higher by Yuan 44/t on week. Higher prices of steelmaking raw materials had mainly supported the rise.
Meanwhile, lower output saw rebar inventories at both the 137 surveyed mills and commercial warehouses in 35 Chinese cities under Mysteel's tracking fall for the fourth week, with the former sliding 5.8% or 112,700 tonnes on week to reach a near an eight-month low of 1.8 million tonnes as of September 6, while the latter dipped by 2.8% or 165,400 tonnes on week to 5.7 million tonnes as of September 7.
Source:Mysteel Global
