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The daily consumption of imported iron ore sintering fines among the 64 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel’s survey continued to grow for the second survey period over April 22-May 6, up by 3,000 tonnes/day or 0.5% from April 8-21 to 560,600 t/d on average, reaching a two-month high, mainly relying on the stocks at the works instead of hauling from the ports.
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China’ steel mills and traders have renewed their interest in exporting, lured by the far higher global steel prices that are more than sufficient to cover the difference now that Beijing has removed tax rebates on most of the commercial-grade steel exports since May 1, market sources shared on May 8, a make-up working day in China after the Labour Day holiday over May 1-5.
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China’s domestic steel prices have been on another round of climb-ups after the Labour Day holiday over May 1-5, all according to Mysteel’s assessments, as both domestic demand and market optimism had been lending support, and steelmaking raw material prices have been following closely behind, Mysteel Global noted.
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Prices ofimported coalwere stable in generalover May 6-8.
Coking coal imports
SeabornePCIcoal offering price to China, unit: $/tonne
PCIcoalimports:
SeabornePCIcoal offering price to China, unit:$/tonne
Seaborne thermalcoal offering price to China:
Edited by Sean Xie, xiepy@mysteel.com
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Prices of China’s steelmaking raw materials including iron ore and coke soared substantially in the first two working days after the Labour Day holiday over May 1-5, with the seaborne iron ore price touching a record high, all on the support of the production enthusiasm among the domestic steel mills on robust steel demand and hefty steel margins.
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Total coke stocks at China’s 110 steel plants under Mysteel’s weekly survey plunged to an 11-week low, or down 227,200 tonnes or 5% on week to 4.4 million tonnes as of May 6, which suggested these steel producers’ robust coke consumption that had outpaced their coke replenishment over April 30-May 6.
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Total imported iron ore stocks at China’s 45 ports under Mysteel’s weekly survey had been largely unchanged, or down just 689,100 tonnes or 0.5% on week to 129.6 million tonnes by May 6, when most of the latest survey period fell on China’s Labour Day holiday over May 1-5, and the daily discharge at these ports fell while new arrivals had been limited too.
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After seven weeks, the blast furnace (BF) capacity utilization rate among China’s 247 steel mills under Mysteel’s survey exceeded 90% again, or up for the fifth straight week to 90.59% over April 30 - May 6, as both the domestic steel demand and soaring steel prices had been encouraging the Chinese steel mills to maximize their steel output.
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The total volume of iron ore dispatched to global destinations from the 19 ports and 16 mining companies in Australia and Brazil inched down over April 26-May 2 after two weeks of rises, falling 216,000 tonnes or 0.9% on week, mainly due to lower volume from Australia having offset the more tonnage from Brazil, according to Mysteel’s latest survey.
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Total output of coke among the 230 Chinese independent coking plants surveyed weekly by Mysteel slid for the eighth week over April 22-28, declining by 15,200 tonnes/day on week to 592,900 t/d on average to refresh a 14-month low. The sustained decline was mainly a consequence of the tough checks that local governments are conducting on environmental protection facilities among coking plants nationwide, according to sources.
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The blast furnace (BF) capacity utilization rate among China’s 247 steel mills, under Mysteel’s monitoring, grew for the fourth successive week to 89.93% over April 23-29, or approaching 90% again after having been below the level for six weeks, mainly as Chinese steel mills had been striving to ramp up output on the remaining high steel margins.
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Total imported iron ore stocks at China’s 45 ports under Mysteel’s weekly survey reversed down to 130.3 million tonnes as of April 29 after having surged to a new 23-month high in the previous week, or easing 2.9 million tonnes or 2.2% on week, due to higher daily discharge rates from these ports and at the same time lower new arrivals at many ports.
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Chinese traders saw their inventories of steel at hand decline further over April 23-29 as business throughout this month remained steady, new Mysteel data shows. But market sources warned that the pace of stocks digestion may wane a little early next month from the disruption caused by the coming Labour Day holiday over May 1-5.
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China’s prices for steelmaking raw materials including iron ore, coke and steel scrap are graining rather strong supports from the sky-rocketing domestic finished steel prices amid which Chinese steel mills are enjoying incredibly healthy steel margins.
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Operational rate of China’s 110 independent and affiliated coking coal wash plants under Mysteel’s weekly survey eased for the second week to a seven-week low of 71.9% by April 27, suggesting the impact of the stringent safety checks on domestic coal mines and lower operations of the wash plants close to the Sino-Mongolia border for Mongolian coal processing, the latest data showed.
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Asia’s market for steel scrap diverged for a second week over April 16-23, with prices in regions such as Taiwan seeing their landed steel scrap prices move further upward, while prices in other Asian scrap markets remained stable or even trended downward, according to Mysteel’s assessment.
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The total volume of iron ore dispatched to global destinations from the 19 ports and 16 mining companies in Australia and Brazil under Mysteel’s survey increased for the second week by another 655,000 tonnes or 2.7% on week to 24.7 million tonnes over April 19-25, as higher volume from Australia offset the decline from Brazil.
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China’s price of ferromolybdenum (FeMo) remained unchanged on week at Yuan 113,000/tonne ($17,424.6/t) including the 13% VAT as of April 23, according to Mysteel’s assessment. The firmness of the price was attributed to the improved buying interest among domestic stainless mills rebuilding inventory of FeMo before the Labour Day holiday over May 1-5, a market source said on Monday.
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Over April 19-23, China’s imported iron ore prices both for seaborne cargoes and port inventories had touched rather high levels since Mysteel’s commencement of assessments, mainly as demand from the domestic steel mills had been firm when they had been enjoying high steel margins in general.
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China’s prices for seaborne metallurgical coal continued to climb over April 19-23, supported by recovering demand from both the domestic and global markets, according to sources.
