China's daily steel production hits 3-month low in late July

Daily steel production at China's 318 steel mills fell to a three-month low of an average of 3 million tonnes per day over the past eleven days in July, largely as more domestic steel mills responded to the local government team. the decline in steel production and moderate demand for steel in the summer were also disappointing.

The latest Mysteel survey, published on August 1, found that daily crude steel production for July 21-31 was 80,500 t /d, or 2.4% below the average for the previous ten days.

Thus, at 318 surveyed plants, including 247 blast-furnace and 71 electric arc plants, for the entire July, the daily production of crude steel averaged 3.03 million tons /day, which is 22,200 tons /day or 0.7%. according to Mysteel for a month.

Thus, capacity utilization among these 247 blast furnace factories decreased in the second week to 86.83% in the period from 23 to 29 July, or by another 1.21 percentage points per week, and among 71 plants in EAF it also fell to a minimum. in 4.5 months. 64.05% over the same period after two weeks of decline.

By the end of July, many provinces in China, such as Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui, notified their local businesses to cut steel production for the remainder of this year, and some steel producers acted accordingly, reducing their productivity by consuming lower grade iron ore. ... who are maintaining their steel plants or postponing the commissioning of new projects.

On the other hand, actual steel demand in China remained weak amid adverse summer weather conditions for most of China, and daily trading volume in construction steel, including rebar, wire rod and wire rod, was below 237 Chinese Trading Houses from July 21 to July 31. on average, 170,740 tons /day were sold, which is 20,098 tons /day, or 10.5%, less than on July 11-20.

On the contrary, expectations of a decline in steel production supported domestic steel prices, and as of July 30, the national price of HRB400E rebar with a diameter of 20 mm, indicative of the sentiment of the Chinese steel market, was valued by Mysteel at 5,479 yuan /. tonne ($ 848 per tonne) including 13% VAT, the highest since May 20 or RMB 142 per tonne since July 20.