WEEKLY: China's HRC output falls faster to hit 3-m low

Hot-rolled coil (HRC) production among the 37 Chinese steelmakers surveyed by Mysteel nationwide fell for a second week to reach 3.14 million tonnes over August 28-September 3, hitting a three-month low with a faster on-week decline of 3.2% or 105,000 tonnes. In the previous survey week, the production volume only dipped by 0.2% or 5,000 tonnes on week.

Survey respondents pointed out that three steel mills located in North and Northeast China commenced maintenance on their steelmaking facilities during the latest survey period, which contributed a large part to the HRC output reduction. Both HRC rolling capacity utilization and operational rates among the 37 sampled mills dropped for