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Stocks of imported iron ore sintering fines at China’s 64 steel mills under Mysteel’s regular survey dipped by 188,000 tonnes or 1.2% from July 15 to reach 15.9 million tonnes by July 28, new data shows. The central government’s order that steelmakers must reduce production for the rest of this year made most mills more cautious about purchasing or replenishing, market sources said Thursday.
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China’s price for 75% grade ferrosilicon (FeSi) reached 3.5-year high of Yuan 8,342/tonne ($1281/t) including the 13% VAT as of July 23, edging up by Yuan 76/t on week, according to Mysteel’s assessment, mainly due to limited production in North China’s Inner Mongolia and Northwest China’s Ningxia.
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The operational rate of the 110 Chinese independent and affiliated coking coal wash plants in Mysteel’s weekly survey had climbed for the fourth week, up another 5.4 percentage points on week to 71% by July 27, or having finally been back to level prior to the grand celebration on July 1 with the gradual resumption among the washing plants.
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Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines fell below the $200/dmt threshold on July 27 after having persisted above the level since June 1, hitting $199.05/dmt CFR Qingdao as of Tuesday, or down $17.95/dmt on week, which was in sharp contrast to China’s domestic steel price movements recently, as the concern on steel mills’ demand has taken a toll.
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Price trends in the Asian steel scrap market continued to vary during the week of July 16-23, Mysteel’s latest survey shows, with prices in China rising while those in other markets remaining unchanged or trending downward.
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Total volume of iron ore shipped to global destinations from the 19 ports and 16 mining companies in Australia and Brazil under Mysteel’s weekly survey increased to 24.9 million tonnes over July 19-25, or having rebounded by 1.6 million tonnes or 6.9% on week after a three-week dip, and both countries’ shipments grew over the period.
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Iron Ore Arrivals at China’s Ports
Notes:
1.Mysteel iron ore department has enlarged the survey sample from 26 ports to 45 ports since January 2020, and has commenced releasing the new statistics on May 7 2020. The survey period runs Monday-Sunday, and the data are released every Tuesday unless it is
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China’s prices of ferromolybdenum (FeMo) and molybdenum concentrates remained unchanged at high levels over July 19-23, according to Mysteel’s survey, though market sources observed that buying interest among Chinese steelmakers for FeMo softened last week.
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China’s prices for imported iron ore underwent a substantial correction during the July 19-23 week. Market sentiment quickly turned bearish on the likelihood of less demand as more provincial governments pressed local steel mills to trim crude steel output for the rest of this year.
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China’s offering prices of domestically-produced iron ore concentrates under Mysteel’s survey continued to show variation by region over July 19-23, as the prices in Tangshan, North China’s Hebei, and Shandong in East China softened together with the weakening in demand and imported iron ore prices, while Northeast China’s Liaoning price edged up due to the constrained supply, market sources observed.
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China’s domestic steel scrap market remained generally stable over July 16-23, supported by lower stocks of scrap among steelmakers amid the seasonal supply tightness, according to Mysteel’s latest survey.
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By July 23, Mysteel’s price assessment of the seaborne premium medium-volatile (PMV) coking coal price, mainly referring to the non-Australian coal imports to China, reached the highest at $314/tonne CFR North China since the start of the assessment on November 4 2019, or up for the second week by another $5.5/t on week on more bookings from China’s end-users and traders.
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Over July 19-23, China’s imported iron ore prices both for spot and futures tumbled substantially on week, as the market sentiment was stirred on the possible softening in demand with more Chinese provinces’ instructing their local mills for lower steel output for the remainder of the year, while the domestic coke prices diverged in spot and futures markets, with the latter up as supply is expected to remain tight in the coming months.
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China’s steel prices including rebar and hot-rolled coil (HRC) continued with the strengthening in both the spot and futures markets over July 19-23, as the near-term market sentiment has been boosted on the anticipation of lower crude steel output for the remainder of 2021, Mysteel Global noted.
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Prices ofimported coalwere mixedover July 19-23.
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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Total coke stocks at the 230 Chinese independent coking plants in Mysteel’s weekly survey mounted for the fourth week by another 53,200 tonnes or 8.4% on week to top 687,100 tonnes as of July 22, a three-month high. Even though coke output declined by 11,300 tonnes/day on week to 605,100 t/d on average over July 15-21, in the meantime steelmakers’ demand had softened, according to sources.
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Blast furnace capacity utilization rate among China’s 247 steel mills nationwide under Mysteel’s survey reversed down after two weeks of inclines over July 16-22, though the on-week drop was minor at 0.51 percentage point to 88.04%, as some steel mills in China had already started trimming their output on the instruction of their local authorities as part of the efforts to rein in the national steel output.
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Total imported iron ore stocks at China’s 45 ports under Mysteel’s weekly survey touched a two-month high of 128.5 million tonnes over July 16-22 or having gained for the fifth successive week by another 3 million tonnes or 2.4% on week, mainly as higher new ore arrivals outpaced the growth in daily discharge volume.
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The stocks of finished steel products held by trading houses across China monitored by Mysteel moved up for the sixth week over July 16-22, though the inventories only rose by a minor 0.1% on week, the latest stocks survey showed.
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China’s imported iron ore price softened but just marginally in the past two weeks with the growing market expectation on China’s wide-range steel production curtailing for the second half of 2021 to fulfil Beijing’s pledge that national steel output not to exceed that of 2020 at the highest.
