Crude steel production among China's top ten steelmaking provinces and autonomous regions totalled 609.57 million tonnes during this year's January-October period, down by 2.39% on year, with seven out of the ten posting on-year declines in output, according to the latest data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Overall, relatively weak demand and low product prices in China's steel market meant that October failed to live up to its reputation as the "silver" consumption month. As it became clear to mills that there would be little or no surge in steel orders that usually greets the arrival of autumn, many in these key steelmaking regions chose to clip production to avoid deeper losses, Mysteel Global noted.
Last month, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses under Mysteel's tracking averaged just 121,308 tonnes/day, plunging by 21.2% from the October 2023 average.
But for October alone, crude steel output among these top ten bases enjoyed a slight on-year gain of 1.4% to reach 57.31 million tonnes, the NBS data showed. This was mainly attributed to the significant production growth in North China's Shanxi province, where crude steel output jumped by 34.75% on year to 5.7 million tonnes in October.
A low base recorded in October last year contributed to the notable on-year increase in Shanxi's crude steel output this October. The province produced 4.23 million tonnes of crude steel in October 2023 – its lowest in six years.
Moreover, compared with September, the slight uptick in domestic steel prices last month – and with it, improved profitability for mills – spurred Shanxi's local steelmakers to resume or even ramp up their steel production, according to a Shanxi-based market insider. "The region's substantial steel production capacity provides the resilience," he said.
For example, China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment under Mysteel's assessment, averaged Yuan 3,765/tonne ($519.9/t) including the 13% VAT in October, climbing by 10.8% from September.
Table-1 Jan-Oct steel output among China's top 10 steel-producing hubs
Ranking | Province/Autonomous Region | Volume (mln t) | Y-o-Y (%) |
1 | Hebei | 173.36 | -6.67 |
2 | Jiangsu | 100.21 | -3.09 |
3 | Shandong | 61.95 | -2.24 |
4 | Liaoning | 58.86 | -4.79 |
5 | Shanxi | 51.54 | -6.03 |
6 | Guangxi | 38.18 | 10.96 |
7 | Guangdong | 34.25 | 12.00 |
8 | Anhui | 31.34 | -4.19 |
9 | Fujian | 30.51 | 12.25 |
10 | Hubei | 29.37 | -3.42 |
Total |
| 609.57 | -2.39 |
Source: NBS
Table-2 Oct steel output among China's top 10 steel-producing hubs
Ranking | Province/Autonomous Region | Volume (mln t) | Y-o-Y (%) |
1 | Hebei | 14.71 | -2.19 |
2 | Jiangsu | 9.18 | 3.03 |
3 | Shandong | 6.11 | -1.45 |
4 | Liaoning | 6.01 | -1.48 |
5 | Shanxi | 5.70 | 34.75 |
6 | Guangxi | 3.39 | -7.12 |
7 | Anhui | 3.29 | -2.37 |
8 | Guangdong | 3.13 | -1.57 |
9 | Hubei | 2.94 | -6.96 |
10 | Fujian | 2.85 | 6.34 |
Total |
| 57.31 | 1.40 |
Source: NBS
Source:Mysteel Global