WEEKLY: Curbs clip China's HRC output further

Hot-rolled coil (HRC) production among the 37 Chinese steelmakers regularly surveyed by Mysteel dropped by 58,500 tonnes or 1.9% on week to around 2.95 million tonnes during March 5-11. This was mainly due to the halt in operations that some mills in North China were obliged to observe to ensure clear air during China’s “Two sessions” political meetings that were also held during the same week, Mysteel Global learned.

Consequently, the hot coil rolling capacity utilization rate among these sampled steel mills contracted by 1.49 percentage points on week to average 75.43% during the survey week, while their average operation rate stood flat for the second week at 78.13%. In the derivatives market meanwhile, tighter HRC supplies, firm support from raw material prices, and the gradual recovery in end-user demand all drove HRC futures prices in Shanghai to a