China smelted record steel in July due to strong demand

China produced a record amount of crude steel in July as the government increased spending on infrastructure, while the manufacturing sector rebounded after the world's second largest economy reopened after blocking restrictions.

The world's largest steel producer produced 93.36 million tonnes of crude steel last month, up 1.9% on June and 9.1% on July 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). of the year.

According to Reuters calculations based on official data, the average daily production of this metal in July was 3.01 million tons, compared with 3.05 million tons in June.

Steel consumption in July was supported by demand for flat steel used in automobile and home appliance manufacturing, even though heavy rain reduced demand for steel products used in construction.

According to data compiled by consulting company Mysteel, production of hot rolled coils and cold rolled coils at the main mills in July increased by almost 28% from the previous month, while production of steel reinforcing bars used in construction rose by 18%.

“As the rainy season drew to a close, demand for construction rebar has stabilized since late July and is expected to continue to recover in the coming months,” said Zhuo Guiqiu, an analyst at Jinrui Capital ahead of the data release.

Blast furnace utilization rates at 247 Chinese steel mills rose for the fourth straight week to 95.16% as of Aug. 14, weekly data compiled by Mysteel showed.