Posted on 17 May 2024
Daily crude steel production among the member mills of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) reversed down during May 1-10, falling by 0.4% during the ten days, as against the 3.8% rise for the last ten days of April, according to the association's release on Wednesday.
The new data showed that during early May, the member mills' crude steel production shrank by 7,900 tonnes/day from late April to average 2.19 million t/d, which was also 2.6% lower on year.
Behind the small decline in output was the fact that some mills had curtailed production, given their thinner profit margins and the slow recovery in demand from steel end-users, sources explained.
This result was in line with Mysteel's survey among the 247 Chinese steel producers it monitors nationwide, which showed that about 52% of them had managed to earn money on steel sales by May 7, down 0.86 percentage point on week.
Meanwhile, finished steel stocks at CISA's member mills mounted by 2.5% or 398,400 tonnes from April 30 to top 16.3 million tonnes as of May 10, according to the release. The total represented a decline of 7.6% or 1.3 million tonnes from the same period last year though, CISA noted.
Based on its members' output, CISA estimated that the country's daily crude steel output averaged 2.61 million t/d for early May, nudging down by 0.2% from late April.
Finished steel prices in the domestic market continued to fluctuate in early May. As of May 10, the country's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment had gained by Yuan 12/tonne ($1.7/t) from that on April 30 to reach Yuan 3,826/t and including the 13% VAT.
In parallel, the daily trading volume of construction steel including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses under Mysteel's tracking averaged only 138,037 t/d during early May, rising by 2% from the prior ten-day average but still down a large 20.1% on year.
Source:Mysteel Global
