WEEKLY: China's HRC output edges lower, price rebound continues

After the previous week’s 1.5% dip, hot-rolled coil (HRC) output among the 37 Chinese steelmakers surveyed by Mysteel contracted by a further 39,700 tonnes or 1.4% on week during August 20-26 to total 2.88 million tonnes, as prolonged margin losses prompted more Chinese steel producers to idle their facilities, Mysteel's latest survey showed.

During the survey week, more steel mills in North China's Hebei province stopped hot strip mills to undertake maintenance work while one in Northeast China also took its mill offline as elevated costs of feedstock such as coking coal and iron ore continued to squeeze the mills' profit margins, Mysteel Global