Posted on 19 Nov 2024
Production of hot-rolled coils (HRC) among the 37 Chinese flat steel producers Mysteel regularly monitors reached 3.09 million tonnes over November 7-13, nudging down by 30,100 tonnes or 0.97% on week, the results of Mysteel's weekly production survey show.
The hot-rolling capacity utilization rate among the 37 mills also slipped by 0.77 percentage point to average 78.82% during the same period, the survey results indicated.
Some steel producers in East and Central China slowed their hot strip mill run-rates during the period, leading to the on-week reduction in HRC output, survey respondents noted.
As China's steel market has entered the normally slow season for sales during winter, cautiousness also pervaded the country's hot coil market during the sample period, market analysts observed.
End-users gradually slowed their immediate buying of the flat product, while coil traders were polarized, the sources explained, saying that some traders chose to defend their HRC quotations while others were bearish and lowered prices to attract deals.
China's national HRC prices, in both spot and futures markets, had trended lower during most of last week. By November 15, the price of Q235 4.75mm HRC under Mysteel's assessment had lost 1.94% on week to sit at Yuan 3,530/tonne ($487.53/t) including the VAT.
Similarly, the Shanghai Futures Exchange's most-traded HRC futures contract for January delivery closed the daytime trading session on November 15 at Yuan 3,420/t, also down by 3.42% on week.
Regarding inventories, HRC stocks held by the 37 surveyed mills had increased by 2.3% on week to reach 795,400 tonnes by November 14, signalling an end to five consecutive weeks of destocking.
As of the same day, HRC stocks at the commercial warehouses Mysteel monitors in 33 Chinese cities nationwide had declined by another 4.25% on week to 2.43 million tonnes.
Source:Mysteel Global
