Posted on 10 Mar 2025
The number of profitable blast-furnace steel mills in China increased this week, as the prices of major steelmaking raw materials declined, reducing their production costs, Mysteel Global learned.
Mysteel's latest weekly survey showed that as of March 6, about 53% of the 247 sampled BF steel mills under its regular tracking could earn positive margins on finished steel sales, up 3 percentage points from one week before.
The better profitability of Chinese steelmakers was mainly attributed to the decrease in their production costs, thanks to the lower prices they were paying for major steelmaking raw materials such as iron ore and coke.
Over February 28-March 6, the average cost of making hot metal among the 114 Chinese mills monitored by Mysteel came in at Yuan 2,466/tonne ($341/t) excluding the 13% VAT, falling by Yuan 43/t on week.
As of March 6, Mysteel's SEADEX 62% Australian Fines iron ore index was assessed at $101.2/dmt CFR Qingdao, slipping by $4.3/dmt from one week earlier, while the national composite coke price under Mysteel's assessment had declined by Yuan 19/t on week to reach Yuan 1,343.6/t including the 13% VAT, the lowest since late September 2016.
With their improved profitability, some Chinese BF mills ramped up production during this week, with the capacity utilization rate of the 247 BF mills across China standing at 86.54% over February 28-March 6, up for a second week by 0.96 percentage point on week.
However, finished steel prices in China were not so strong as the recovery in demand was slower than the market had expected, Mysteel Global noted.
For example, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a pointer to domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,410/t including the 13% VAT as of March 6, down by Yuan 40/t on week. In parallel, the national average price of Q235 4.75mm HRC was lower by Yuan 13/t on week at Yuan 3,437/t including the VAT during the same period.
Source:Mysteel Global
