WEEKLY: China's HRC output hits 2.5-month high but demand lags

Hot-rolled coil (HRC) production among the 37 Chinese steelmakers regularly surveyed by Mysteel edged up by 0.4% during September 11-17 to reach 3.26 million tonnes Mysteel’s latest survey results showed. Though the increase was tiny, it took the week’s output to a 2.5-month high nonetheless, Mysteel Global notes

Steel mills producing hot coils continued to keep their run-rates high, hoping that the usual pickup in autumn steel demand will see prices rise and their profits grow in tandem. During the sample week, HRC rolling capacity utilization among the 37 sampled mills remained high at 83.41%, up by 0.34 percentage points on