WEEKLY: China BF mills' production pulls back marginally

Mysteel Global: Production among Chinese blast furnace (BF) steel producers slightly retreated over February 6-13 after rising continuously since mid-January, due to the maintenance stoppages in some mills, Mysteel's latest survey showed.

During the survey period, the average capacity utilization rate of the 247 BF mills Mysteel samples was 85.6%, down by 0.16 percentage point from the previous period, with their daily production of hot metal falling 4,500 tonnes/day or 0.2% to reach 2.28 million t/d.

Meanwhile, the operational rates among these mills averaged 77.98% during the same period, unchanged from the prior period, the survey showed.

The total capacity of the blown-off furnaces in the past week was larger than that of the restarted ones, though the furnace numbers were the same, Mysteel Global noted.

In tandem with the dip in hot metal production, the daily consumption of imported iron ore by the 247 mills Mysteel tracks averaged 2.84 million t/d during February 6-13, lower by 13,800 t/d or 0.5% compared with the previous period.

The total inventories of imported iron ore in all forms held by the same 247 mills continued sliding to reach 91.4 million tonnes as of February 13, down by 3.2 million tonnes or 3.4% from February 5, according to the survey.

The existing stocks would be sufficient to last these mills for 32.2 days at their current usage rate, shorter by 1 day from the previous period, Mysteel assessed.

Domestic BF steelmakers' enthusiasm for rebuilding their feed stocks after the Chinese New Year holiday was not so robust, since they did not see improvement in their profit margins, market sources observed.

By Thursday, only 51% of the 247 BF mills under Mysteel's survey could make some profits on steel sales, lower by 1 percentage point from the previous period.

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