China BF Capacity Use Climbs to 7-Month High

The capacity utilization rate of blast furnaces operated by the 247 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel's weekly survey rose for an eighth consecutive week over April 24-30 to reach 81.68%, a seven-month high since late last September, though still way below the 83.69% average record over the same week a year ago, according to Mysteel's latest survey.

Over the survey period, the rate gained by another 1.09 percentage points, and accordingly, these mills' daily molten iron ore output also grew for an eighth week, rising by another 30,500 MT/day on week to 2.28 MnT/d as of April 30, also a high since late last September, the data show.

Meanwhile, the operational rate of the 247 mills' blast furnaces also rose to 80.95% as of April 30, up 0.46 percentage point on week.

A Shanghai-analyst had heard that some large-scale blast furnaces in North China's Hebei province had resumed production over the past week, he said, while other blast furnace mills elsewhere had also continued to ramp up their production. "The domestic steel market is continuing to recover, which in turn is encouraging steelmakers to boost their production," he explained.

The transaction volumes of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among 237 major traders Mysteel has canvassed across China, for example, averaged 251,603 MT/day over April 27-29, reversing up from the average volume of 223,814 MT/d over April 20-24, Mysteel's data showed.

China's national price of the HRB400 20mm dia rebar reached Yuan 3,612/tonne ($510/t) including the 13% VAT as of April 29, down slightly by Yuan 9/t on week, according Mysteel's database.

Meanwhile, the total stocks of the five major finished steel products, namely rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate, at the 184 steel mills countrywide which Mysteel monitors had declined at a fast pace over the April 23-29 week to 7.5 MnT, down 8% on week.

Correspondingly, raw materials buying among Chinese steel mills has also been active recently, Mysteel Global noted from market sources.

Over April 24-30, Mysteel's survey among a smaller sample of 163 BF steel producers nationwide saw their blast furnace capacity utilization rate increase too, rising by 0.44 percentage point on week to reach 77.36%.

This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.