WEEKLY: China's HRC output edges up on week, prices rally

Hot-rolled coil (HRC) production among the 37 Chinese steelmakers regularly surveyed by Mysteel inched up by 10,000 tonnes or 0.33% on week to 3.03 million tonnes during April 9-15, as some North China-based mills ended brief maintenance work and resumed normal operation.

During the survey week, the capacity utilization rate of the hot strip mills operated by the 37 sampled mills rose 0.26 percentage point to 77.31%, while their average operation rate dipped 1.56 percentage points to 78.13%. Although HRC output has remained relatively steady recently, orders received by mills from manufacturing firms