Posted on 07 Feb 2025
Production among Chinese blast furnace (BF) steel producers rose over January 24-February 5, as some mills lifted production after resuming operations from maintenance stoppages, according to Mysteel's latest survey.
During the survey period, the average capacity utilization rate of the 247 BF mills was 85.76%, higher by 1.12 percentage points compared to the last survey before the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday, which started on January 28.
Daily hot metal production averaged 2.28 million tonnes/day during the same period, rising by 299,000 t/d or 1.3% from the pre-holiday level, the survey showed.
Most BF steelmakers generally maintained normal operations during the holiday, and some mills even ramped up production in hopes of securing larger profits, Mysteel Global noted.
As of February 5, the first working day after the holiday, around 52% of the 247 surveyed mills were able to make some profits on steel sales, up by 3 percentage points from the pre-holiday level.
Alongside the increase in hot metal production, the daily consumption of imported iron ore by the same 247 mills rose by 41,500 t/d or 1.5% from the previous period, reaching 2.85 million t/d over January 24-February 5, according to Mysteel's survey.
With trading in China's iron ore market largely quiet during the holiday, domestic steelmakers were forced to use their own iron ore stocks for production, resulting in a rapid decline in inventories at their yards, Mysteel Global noted.
As of Wednesday, total inventories of imported iron ore across all forms held by the 247 surveyed mills stood at 94.6 million tonnes, a significant drop of 13.8 million tonnes or 12.7% from January 23.
These existing imported iron ore stocks would be sufficient to last these mills for 33.2 days at their current consumption rate, 5.4 days shorter from the previous period, Mysteel assessed.
Source:Mysteel Global
