MONTHLY: Chinese BF mills' profitability worsens in June

Chinese blast-furnace (BF) steel mills' profit margins on finished steel sales deteriorated in June, as their input costs increased with the higher prices of some major steelmaking raw materials, while domestic steel prices lost further ground with thinning demand from end-users, according to Mysteel's latest monthly survey.

Last month, the average loss on rebar sales suffered by the sampled steelmakers reached up to Yuan 71/tonne ($10.4/t), as against the profit of Yuan 38/t in May, while they also posted an average loss of Yuan 26/t on sales of hot-rolled coil (HRC), in sharp contrast to the