Posted on 15 Jan 2024
Rebar production among the 137 Chinese steelmakers regularly tracked by Mysteel declined for the third straight week last week, slipping by 0.7% or 17,800 tonnes on week to total 2.42 million tonnes over January 4-10, according to the latest weekly survey.
The reduction in output occurred mainly among steel mills in East China as integrated mills halted more rolling mills for maintenance, while a few mini-mills also temporarily reined in production due to tight supplies of steel scrap, survey respondents said.
During the survey period, both rebar rolling capacity utilization and operational rates among the surveyed 137 mills also decreased for the third straight week, with the former slipping 0.4 percentage point on week to 53.1%, and the latter down 0.7 percentage point on week at 41.3%, Mysteel's data showed.
Chinese rebar prices also underwent a downward correction in the physical market last week. As of January 11, the country's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar had lost some Yuan 61/tonne ($8.5/t) on week to hit a two-month low of Yuan 4,037/t including the 13% VAT, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Spot rebar prices were impacted by the downtrend seen in prices of steelmaking raw materials such as iron ore and coke, sources said. For example, the Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines index for imported iron ore dropped by $6.85/dmt on week to $134.9/dmt CFR Qingdao on January 11.
For long steel demand, during January 5-11 the daily trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese steel traders under Mysteel's tracking had slowed by a marked 10.6% or 14,856 tonnes/day on week to average 124,722 t/d, as end-users were not keen to purchase steel products during the low season for steel consumption.
In tandem with the lower output, rebar stocks at the surveyed producers thinned for a second week, down 1% or 19,000 tonnes on week at 1.84 million tonnes as of January 10. On the other hand, the tonnage at commercial warehouses in the 35 Chinese cities Mysteel monitors had mounted for the fifth week in a row by January 11, rising by 6.1% or 256,800 tonnes on week to 4.48 million tonnes, a 2.5-month high.
Written by Rong Zhang, zhangronga@mysteel.com Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
Table 1: Rebar Production Survey by Region by Jan 10
Table 2: Wire Rod Production Survey by Region by Jan 10
Table 3: Rebar Production Survey by Process by Jan 10
Table 4: Wire Rod Production Survey by Process by Jan 10
Table 5: Mills' Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks by Region by Jan 10
Table 6: Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks Survey by Process by Jan 10
Source:Mysteel Global
