CISA: Member mills' late-Sept daily output at new high

The daily steel output among the member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) continued to grow over the last ten days of September to a new high of 2.19 million tonnes/day, or up another 43,100 tonnes/day or 2% in 10 days, according to the latest data released by the association on October 10.

The high crude steel output indicated that many Chinese steel mills, especially the large- and medium-sized steel producers, being CISA members, still maintained high production on noting the growing demand from the end-users for replenishment before the National Day holiday over October 1-8.

Mysteel's daily survey among the 237 traders across China showed that daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil averaged 235,063 t/d among the country's 237 traders over September 21-30, up 10,632 t/d or 4.7% from mid-September, as many end-users had stocked up some quantities for the consumption during the long break on the anticipation of the delivery disruption, Mysteel Global notes.

Finished steel stocks at the CISA's member mills, at the same time, declined again on better sales, and as of September 30, their total inventories came in at 11.6 million tonnes, down 13.5% from that by September 20 though still 21.7% higher than the beginning of 2020, according to the association's release.

Basing on its member mills' production, CISA estimated China's national daily crude steel output at 3.09 million t/d over September 21-30 on average, up 1.5% in ten days, and the country's daily finished steel output was estimated to be up 0.9% from that over September 11-20 to 3.82 million t/d in the last ten days of September.

Mysteel's survey among China's 318 steel producers with 247 being blast-furnace and 71 electric-arc-furnace producers, however, showed that their crude steel output slipped another 17,700 t/d or 0.6% from mid-September to a two-month low of 2.96 million tonnes/day over September 21-30, partly as China's steel prices were still in a downtrend during the last ten days of Septembereven since the decline starting September 4.

High output and lower-than-expected spot sales saw China's national price of HRB 400 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, down another Yuan 39/tonne ($5.8/t) from September 18 to Yuan 3,756/t including the 13% VAT, or down a total of Yuan 112/t from September 3, according to Mysteel's data.

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

Photo: World Steel