China's rebar output down 14% on year in Jan-Apr'22

China's rebar production witnessed a 13.6% on-year decline over January-April to reach 75.8 million tonnes, according to the latest data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Among the total, 20.6 million tonnes were produced during April, down 14.1% on year.

Chinese steelmakers were not keen to ramp up their rebar production on margin losses in April, as Mysteel's survey among 51 rebar producers nationwide showed that their average loss on selling rebar reached Yuan 154/tonne ($22.8/t), steeper than the loss of Yuan 94/t for March.

In parallel, the operational rate of rebar rolling lines among a larger group of 137 steel mills under Mysteel's tracking averaged 54.4% as of April 29, down by 16.4 percentage points on year.

The volatility was seen in the price movement of Chinese rebar last month. And as of April 29, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 5,091/t including the 13%, up Yuan 15/t on month.

On the other hand, high raw material prices had weighed on steel mills' production costs. For example, Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fine had edged up $1/dmt on month to average $151/dmt CFR Qingdao in April, and the price of class 2 metallurgical coke in North China had risen more substantially, surging Yuan 402/t on month to Yuan 3,829/t on average.

Last month, Chinese steel demand had been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreaks across the country, with the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among 237 trading houses Mysteel monitors inching up just 1.7% on month to average 170,550 tonnes/day - well below the threshold of 200,000 t/d in a traditional season for robust steel consumption and having slumped 34.5% on year.

In particular, the spot trading in East China decreased even more in April, with the volume down by 9.3% on month or 40% on year to average only 82,662 t/d, according to Mysteel's database.

During the past four months, China's national finished steel output totalled 426.8 million tonnes, down 5.9% on year, and for April alone, the output dropped 5.8% on year to 114.8 million tonnes, according to NBS.

Written by Rong Zhang, zhangronga@mysteel.com

Note: This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.