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As of November 26, China’s domestic iron ore inventories at the country’s 186 mining companies hit a new low of 1.84 million tonnes ever since Mysteel commenced the larger-scale survey in January 2019, as demand had been robust while output had been curtailed by recent government-imposed restrictions especially in North China.
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Inventories of imported iron ore at China’s 45 major ports inched down for the third week over November 20-26, reducing by another 1.5 million tonnes or 1% on week to around 126 million tonnes, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey, which was mainly due to lower new iron ore arrival volumes at these ports.
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Blast furnace capacity utilization among China’s 247 steel mills under Mysteel’s weekly survey ended its three-week slips, up 0.83 percentage point on week to 92.47% over November 20-26, mainly as steel mills had ramped up the output moderately on higher margins, market sources commented.
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Total stocks of finished steel held by Chinese traders declined at a slower pace over November 20-26 as many regions in China were hit by suddenly plummeting temperatures, heavy rains and snowfalls, causing a parallel freezing of demand, Mysteel Global has learned.
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Inventories of imported iron ore stocks at China’s 64 steelmakers grew 603,900 tonnes or 3.5% on week to about 17.6 million tonnes as of November 25, according to Mysteel’s survey, as some Chinese steel mills are preparing for higher steel output now that short-term restriction on their sintering plants have been removed, market sources shared.
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Despite the buoyant demand for coal from end-users, recently some Chinese wash plants have slowed down their processing of metallurgical coal slightly, as a tactic to hold their coal prices firm, according to Mysteel’s survey. The wash plants had noted that coal stocks at coking plants are rising.
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Chinese steel mills raised their steel export offers last week and again this week, even though domestic steel prices have started showing signs of weakening and when global demand is not so strong, Mysteel Global has learned.
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Mysteel’s price assessment for seaborne premium low-volatile (PLV) hard coking coal destined for China continued to drop over the November 16-20 week, falling by $2.5/tonne on week to $108/t CFR North China as of November 20, or refreshing the low since Mysteel commenced publishing the price in November, 2019. The lower price assessment reflected weakening procurement interest for PLV coal from Chinese end-users, Mysteel Global understands.
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Asia’s steel scrap market continued to witness an increase in prices in many regions over the week of November 13-20, with the uptrend mainly supported by firm demand from steel mills and tight scrap availability, Mysteel Global learned from the latest weekly survey.
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The volume of iron ore dispatched to global destinations from the 19 ports and 16 mining companies in Australia and Brazil had been fluctuating recently and it reversed down again over November 16-22 after a one-week gain, slipping 2 million tonnes or 8.4% on week to around 23.7 million tonnes, with both countries posting on-week declines, according to Mysteel’s weekly tracking.
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The price of 60% Ferromolybdenum in Northeast China, a key production and trading hub of the noble alloy, increased for the third week in a row during the November 16-20 week, rising by another Yuan 1,000/tonne ($152.2/t) on week to reach Yuan 99,000/t including 13% VAT as of November 20, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly report. Though the price was the highest since mid-June, the succession of price gains saw buying turn slack during the survey period.
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Miners and processors in major domestic iron ore mining regions in China raised offer prices for concentrates by as much as Yuan 40/wmt ($6.1/wmt) over November 16-20, prompted by the firm demand of steelmakers and the spike in imported iron ore prices, according to Mysteel’s price tracking.
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Sentiment in China’s market for imported iron ore was bullish over November 16-20, buoyed by the continuing strength of ore prices and stable ore trading, market sources said on Monday.
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Domestic steel scrap prices across China stayed strong over the week of November 13-20, with Mysteel’s steel scrap price index increasing by Yuan 14.8/tonne ($2.2/t) on week to Yuan 2,693.8/t on delivery and including the 13% VAT as of November 20, or refreshing its 7.5-year high. Strengthening steel prices and steelmakers’ firm demand for raw materials were what supported the price rise.
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China’s prices of steelmaking raw materials including iron ore and coke continued to perform strongly over November 16-20 in response to the further strengthening in China’s domestic steel prices, Mysteel Global noted.
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China’s prices of rebar and hot-rolled coil (HRC) in physical market had been strengthening since the end of October, though the demand in some regions especially Northeast China softened amid the freezing weather, Mysteel Global noted.
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Prices ofimported coalmixedover November 16-20.
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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Capacity utilization among the 230 Chinese independent coking plants under Mysteel’s weekly survey dropped by 1.5 percentage points on week to a three-month low of 75.4% as of November 19, according to the survey report published on Friday. The reduction in facilities usage during the survey period reflects stoppages for environmental protection inspections in Shanxi plus the ongoing campaign in several provinces to eliminate outdated capacity, the report notes.
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Inventories of imported iron ore at China’s 45 major ports stayed largely steady, inching down for the second week over November 13-19 by another 263,000 tonnes on week to around 127.5 million tonnes, mainly as daily discharge rate increased, outpacing the increase in the new ore arrivals at ports, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly statistics.
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The blast furnace capacity utilization rate among China’s 247 steel mills dipped for the third week by November 13-19, nudging down another 0.47 percentage point on week to 91.64% on average, according to Mysteel’s weekly survey, indicating that many of the surveyed mills had been just finetuning their steel output on the solid demand so far.
