Posted on 19 Mar 2024
Production of hot-rolled coils (HRC) among the 37 Chinese flat steel producers Mysteel regularly monitors increased further during the week of March 11-15 to reach 3.19 million tonnes, higher by 76,300 tonnes or 2.45% on week, the results of the latest weekly production survey show.
In tandem, the hot-rolling capacity utilization rate among the 37 mills also rose by another 1.95 percentage points on week to average 81.37% last week, the survey found.
Survey respondents mainly attributed the on-week rises in hot coil output to the fact that some steel producers in Northeast China resumed operations after completing maintenance stoppages during the sample period.
Meanwhile, among all producers nationwide, steel mills in the Northeast were the only ones to quicken the pace of HRC deliveries last week, while steelmakers in other regions generally maintained their normal delivery levels, the data show.
These factors together saw the HRC stocks at the 37 surveyed mills mount during the week, with the tonnage moving higher by 1.08% on week to reach 946,600 tonnes as of March 14.
By the same day, hot coil inventories at commercial warehouses in the 33 cities under Mysteel's tracking had continued to rise, albeit up by just 0.69% on week at 3.51 million tonnes.
Overall, weak sentiment still pervaded China's hot coil market last week, with downstream demand for them remaining lukewarm and prices of the flat product staying soft, market watchers noted.
In fact, as of March 15, China's spot price of Q235 4.75mm hot-rolled coil under Mysteel's assessment had declined for a sixth consecutive working day to refresh a near five-month new low of Yuan 3,820/t ($530.7/t) including the VAT, lower by Yuan 142/t or 3.58% on week.
On the Shanghai Futures Exchange the same day, the most-traded HRC futures contract for May delivery had also lost another Yuan 150/t or 3.9% from the March 8 settlement price to close the daytime trading session at Yuan 3,692/t.
Source:Mysteel Global
