Posted on 23 Oct 2023
Rebar production among the 137 steelmakers across China under Mysteel's regular tracking paused from two weeks of declines over October 12-18, increasing by 1.4% or 34,700 tonnes on week to 2.56 million tonnes, the latest survey result showed.
The rise was mainly because some Chinese mini-mills lifted production moderately after their profit margins had improved due to the softening in steel scarp prices, survey respondents said.
However, rebar output among the surveyed mills was still lower by 14.3% from the same period last year, Mysteel's data showed.
During the latest survey week, both rebar rolling capacity utilization and operational rates among the 137 steel producers recovered, with the former edging up 0.8 percentage point on week to 56.2%, and the latter growing by 2 percentage points on week to 45.9%.
Recently, Chinese steel prices stayed largely range-bound -- the country's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment, for example, gained by Yuan 21/tonne ($2.9/t) on week to Yuan 3,818/t including the 13% VAT as of October 19.
As for steel consumption, the daily trading volume of construction steel including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel's survey rose 17.7% or 24,420 tonnes/day on week to average 162,230 t/d over October 16-19.
"Despite the on-week recovery, steel demand was lacklustre generally, and cautiousness remained in the market," sources remarked.
Meanwhile, rebar inventories at both the 137 surveyed mills and among traders in 35 Chinese cities under Mysteel's tracking decreased, with the former reversing from two weeks of gains, down by 8.5% or 176,900 tonnes on week to 1.9 million tonnes as of October 18, and the latter had thinned for the second week by another 5.4% or 258,800 tonnes on week to 4.6 million tonnes as of October 19.
Source:Mysteel Global
