China's pig iron output drops faster by 4.2% during Jan-Nov'21

Over January-November, China's pig iron output declined by 4.2% on year to 796.23 million tonnes, steeper than the 3.2% on-year drop for the first 10 months or the 2.6% on-year drop in the country's crude steel output in the first 11 months, according to the data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on December 15.

For November, the nation's pig iron output hit a new low since March 2018, reaching 61.73 million tonnes or down 16.6% on year, which was less than the 22% on-year drop in crude steel output in the same month, and it was also down on month for the sixth consecutive month by another 2.1%, Mysteel Global noted from the NBS database.

Last month, the country's daily pig iron production hovered low at 2.05 million tonnes/day, which was up marginally by 1.2% on month, Mysteel Global calculated, which matched the actual market situation, as steelmakers in North China especially those in Hebei were still in the middle of the winter restriction period until March 2022, and at the same time they had been imposed on more stringent emergency curbing whenever local air quality was poor.

Besides, thinning steel margins on month for November had dampened steelmakers' production enthusiasm especially in the first half of November, and lower demand for iron ore, as a result, saw the November average of Mysteel SEADEX 62% Fe Australian fines fall $25.2/dmt on month to $95.1/dmt CFR Qingdao, East China's Shandong.

The coke procurement price cuts by a total of Yuan 1,600/tonne ($251/t) throughout November among the major steelmaking bases, however, helped to prevent China's pig iron output from slumping more deeply on month, Mysteel Global noted.

Written by Victoria Zou, zyongjia@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an exchange agreement between MySteel Global and SteelMint.