Posted on 01 Jul 2024
After declining for three straight weeks, rebar production among the 137 Chinese steel mills across the country tracked by Mysteel rebounded substantially over June 20-26, jumping by 6.2% or 142,300 tonnes on week to 2.45 million tonnes and hitting the highest for the year, according to the results of the weekly survey. Mills in Northwest and Central China contributed most to the increment, the data show.
Some blast-furnace makers in Northwest China's Xinjiang brought their rolling mills back on stream last week, leading to a significant on-week rise in rebar output, while steel producers in East and South China resumed production at a slow pace due to poor rebar margins, survey respondents said.
During the survey period, the rebar rolling capacity utilization rate among the surveyed producers picked up by 3.1 percentage points on week to 53.7% while their operational rate gained further by 1.6 percentage points on week to 44.9%.
Nonetheless, rebar output last week was still lower by 11.5% from the corresponding week last year when the volume reached 2.77 million tonnes, according to Mysteel's data.
On the demand side, Mysteel's other survey showed that the daily trading volume of long steel items including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among 237 Chinese trading houses it monitors averaged 114,262 tonnes/day over June 21-27, falling by 4.5% on week.
"Steel consumption was weak amid the low season for the steel market, with high temperatures and heavy downpours impacting many parts of the country. Also, tight funding conditions among building contractors persist as well," said a market source.
As of June 27, the national HRB400E 20mm dia rebar price, a bellwether of the domestic steel market mood, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,632/tonne ($500/t) including the 13% VAT, down Yuan 63/t from one week earlier.
On the other hand, higher output and slack spot sales saw rebar stocks at the 137 surveyed mills mount by 1.9% or 38,100 tonnes on week to 2.06 million tonnes as of June 26. At the same time, tonnage at the commercial warehouses in the 35 cities Mysteel follows also increased for the third week, up 0.9% or 51,500 tonnes on week to 5.78 million tonnes as of June 27.
Table 1: Rebar Production Survey by Region by Jun 26
Table 2: Wire Rod Production Survey by Region by Jun 26
Table 3: Rebar Production Survey by Process by Jun 26
Table 4: Wire Rod Production Survey by Process by Jun 26
Table 5: Mills' Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks by Region by Jun 26
Table 6: Rebar and Wire Rod Stocks Survey by Process by Jun 26
Source:Mysteel Global
