China's rebar output falls 13% in Jan-Apr: NBS

China's rebar production posted a 12.8% on-year decline over January-April to reach 66.3 million tonnes (mnt), according to the latest data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Within the total, 16.3 mnt were produced for April alone, slumping by 21.7% on year.

The rebar rolling capacity utilisation rate among the 137 Chinese steelmakers Mysteel regularly tracks was in line with the NBS result, as their run rate had fallen by 17.4 percentage points from April last year to average 47.3% last month.

As for spot rebar prices, China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at an average of yuan 3,727/tonne ($515/t) including the 13% VAT in April, slipping by yuan 35/t from the prior month's average and plunging by yuan 331/t on year.

Meanwhile, raw material prices had been resilient last month. For example, Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian fines had risen by $1.3/dmt on month to average $110.1/dmt CFR Qingdao in April.

For demand, spot trading volume of long steel items including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses Mysteel monitors averaged 151,316 tonnes (t)/day last month, rising by 24.2% on month though still down 7.5% on year.

Also over January-April, the NBS statistics showed that newly-launched housing projects by floor area in China had shrunk by 24.6% on year to 235.1 million sq m, while the country's property sales declined by 20.2% on year to 292.5 million sq m, indicating the struggling property sector across the country.

During this year's first four months, China's total finished steel output reached 451 mnt, rising by 2.9% on year, though for April, the output dipped by 1.6% on year to 116.5 mnt, the NBS data showed.

Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between MySteel Global and BigMint.