Posted on 22 Oct 2024
Production of hot-rolled coils (HRC) among the 37 Chinese flat steel producers Mysteel regularly monitors totalled 3.05 million tonnes during October 10-16, nudging down by 29,000 tonnes or 0.94% on week, the results of Mysteel's weekly production survey show.
Meanwhile, the hot-rolling capacity utilization rate among the 37 mills also slipped by 0.75 percentage point to average 77.99% during the same period, the survey found.
Some steel producers in North China stopped their hot strip mills during the period to conduct maintenance, resulting in the on-week reduction in HRC output, survey respondents noted.
Moreover, as the lift in market mood produced by Beijing's launch of new macro-economic policies gradually faded, China's HRC market once again became dominated by fundamentals during the survey week, with hot coil demand staying largely tepid, a Shanghai-based market watcher said.
Many buyers adopted a wait-and-see stance and only purchased sufficient HRC for their immediate needs, while steel mills and traders cut their HRC quotations to facilitate sales. Lower-priced offers undoubtedly attracted more attention, he remarked.
As of October 17, HRC stocks held by the 37 surveyed mills had decreased by 3.79% on week to 819,400 tonnes. By the same day, inventories of the flat product at the commercial warehouses Mysteel monitors in 33 Chinese cities nationwide had also eased by 3.43% on week to 2.88 million tonnes.
Regarding prices, China's spot price of Q235 4.75mm HRC under Mysteel's assessment was at Yuan 3,537/tonne ($497.6/t) including the VAT as of October 18, lower by 3.31% from one week earlier.
By the same day, the Shanghai Futures Exchange's most-traded HRC futures contract for January delivery had also lost 2.45% on week to settle at Yuan 3,511/t by the time the daytime trading session ended.
Source:Mysteel Global
