Daily crude steel output among the member mills of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) climbed further during April 11-20, rising by another 1.5% or 32,000 tonnes/day from the previous ten days to hit a one-month high of 2.23 million t/d on average, according to the association's latest release on April 23. The mid-April daily average was also higher by 5.2% on year, CISA notes.
Contributing to the further rise in daily output was the fact that many domestic steel mills had been ramping up production during the middle ten days of April to benefit from healthier steel profit margins, as Mysteel Global reported.
In addition, based on the performance of its member mills, CISA estimated that the country's daily crude steel output averaged 2.83 million t/d during mid-April, up 1.5% from April 1-10.
Meanwhile, finished steel inventories held by CISA's member mills had mounted further as of April 20, with the total volume swelling by 4.2% or 670,000 tonnes from April 10 to 16.7 million tonnes, the CISA statistics showed. The slow recovery in steel consumption and higher steel output were blamed, Mysteel Global notes.
Demand among end-users was weaker than the market had expected. The results of Mysteel's survey on the spot sales of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses it regularly monitors showed that for mid-April, their trading volume averaged 107,742 tonnes/day, falling by 10.5% or 12,632 t/d from the average during the first ten days of this month.
China's finished steel prices had also softened during mid-April. As of April 18, the country's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, for example, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,280/tonne ($449/t) and including the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 17/t from that on April 10.
Despite the modest retreat in domestic steel prices, the results of Mysteel's survey showed that among the 247 Chinese mills it tracks nationwide, 136 could earn some profits on steel sales as of April 17, more than the 133 in the prior week who said they were earning money.
