Posted on 20 May 2024
China produced a total of 285 million tonnes of pig iron during January-April this year, lower by a marked 4% compared to the same period last year, according to the new data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on May 17. The decrease in pig iron output was faster than the 3% on-year fall recorded for domestic crude steel production during the same period.
Domestic blast-furnace (BF) steelmakers' enthusiasm for production was tepid overall during the first four months this year due to the relatively weak demand from steel end-users, Mysteel Global noted.
In April alone, the pig iron production in China totalled 71.6 million tonnes, lower by 8% on year and 1.5% on month, NBS data showed. However, the country's daily iron ore output averaged 2.39 million tonnes/day last month, growing 1.9% from that in March, Mysteel calculated based on the NBS data.
During April, steelmakers saw their profit margins improve rapidly thanks to the strong rises of steel prices, which encouraged the mills to produce actively, according to Mysteel's survey.
As of the end of last month, the daily production of hot metal among the 247 BF steelmakers under Mysteel's regular tracking was some 2.31 million t/d, higher by 4.2% on month. By the same time, around 50% of these sampled mills could make some profits on steel sales, while at the end of March the proportion was just 29%.
The growth in the hot metal production last month underpinned mills' demand for steelmaking raw materials such as iron ore and coke, driving up the prices of these materials accordingly, Mysteel Global noted.
By the end of April, for example, Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines stood at $116.7/dmt CFR Qingdao, higher by a substantial $18.9/dmt or 19.3% on month.
Source:Mysteel Global
