WEEKLY: China's HRC output ticks up, prices edge higher

After dipping for two weeks, hot-rolled coil (HRC) output among the 37 Chinese steelmakers surveyed by Mysteel rose slightly by 68,100 tonnes or 2.4% on week during August 27-September 2 to total 2.95 million tonnes, Mysteel's latest survey showed. This was still lower by 6.1% on year, however.

Two steelmakers brought their hot strip mills back online during the survey week, Mysteel Global learned. As a result, the average capacity utilization rate for strip mills among the surveyed 37 steelmakers increased by 1.74 percentage points on week to sit at 75.39% during the latest survey period. The average operation rate of these surveyed mills