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Jiangsu Shagang Group, China’s largest long steels producer, is adding Yuan 50/tonne ($7.4/t) to the ex-works prices of all its major long steel items including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil for sales over February 21-28, according to the mill’s latest pricing policy released on Thursday.
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The idling of production at Anglo American’s Moranbah North Coal mine in Australia following a fatality at the mine will have limited influence on China’s coal market, sources suggested on February 21. Of greater concern are the renewed restrictions on coal imports.
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Chinese steelmakers’ growing interest in lower-grade iron ore has been benefiting suppliers of such grade products such as Fortescue Metals (FMG), enabling the world’s fourth largest iron ore producer to further reduce the discounts on its major products for March deliveries against the 62% price and to enjoy higher profits, market sources remarked on Thursday.
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Echeng Steel Co, a subsidiary of China Baowu Steel Group Corp, planned to build a new 120-tonne converter at its existing works in Ezhou, Central China’s Hubei province, to replace old facilities, The notice from Hubei’s provincial Ministry of Economy and Information Technology on February 19.
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Vale has suspended all the activities at the Fábrica mine at its Paraopeba Complex under its Southern System, an industrial source close to Vale confirmed a company release on February 20.
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Australian miner Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) achieved revenue of $3.54 billion and underlying net profit after tax of $644 million in the first half of the company’s 2019 financial year (July-December 2018), 10% and 66% higher respectively than the previous half financial year (spanning January-June 2018), according to FMG’s latest half-year result published on February 20, though these were down 4% and 7% on the previous corresponding period (1H18). The company reports in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
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Shanghai-listed Shanxi Coking Company (SCC) has warned that its coke output will decline by about 220,000 tonnes over February 16-March 31 because of emergency production curbs taking effect during the same period to contain air pollution, according to a company notice on February 20. It said the cutbacks were ordered by local authorities of Hongtong county, located in Linfen in North China’s Shanxi province, where its plant is located.
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China’s production of crude stainless steel in January decreased by 7% on month to 1.95 million tonnes, as poor demand around the Chinese New Year holiday break led stainless mills to opt to shut for maintenance and overhauls, according to the findings of Mysteel’s latest monthly survey among 21 domestic stainless makers published on February 19. The 21 mills account for over 90% of China’s total stainless output.
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A series of accidents at major iron ore miners over the past several months has led Chinese market participants to become largely unfazed by small-scale incidents such as that involving driverless trucks at Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group a week ago.
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Chinese iron ore market participants say that the impact felt by local mills from the fire which broke out last Friday at Vale’s iron ore distribution centre in Teluk Rubiah in Malaysia’s Perak State will be limited. In a statement issued late last Friday in Asia, Vale officially confirmed that a fire had hit one of the transfer houses of the belt conveyor system at its distribution centre but insisted operations should be back to normal within about two weeks.
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Chinese iron ore market participants have largely shrugged off Vale’s announcement Wednesday that it was resuming operations on systems at its Tubarão Port Complex after a week’s stoppage, saying that the iron ore product most affected – Tubarão pellets – has little share in the Chinese market.
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A fire broke out at the iron ore blending plant at Vale’s distribution center in Teluk Rubiah in Malaysia’s Perak State on Friday afternoon, according to Chinese steel mill sources in touch with the Brazilian miner, with all production and transportation at the plant temporarily suspended.
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Angang Steel Co (Angang), a key producer of flat steel in Northeast China’s Liaoning province, has decided to lift its flats list prices by Yuan 150/tonne ($22/t) for March sales in response to recovering demand from end-users after the Chinese New Year holiday over February 4-8, Mysteel was told on Friday.
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Taishan Steel Group Co, the only sizeable stainless producer in East China’s Shandong province has just started constructing an 800,000 tonnes/year stainless cold rolling mill adjacent to its existing stainless hot-rolling mill in Laiwu district, Jinan city of Shandong, a company official confirmed on Thursday.
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China’s domestic sales of 14-100 tonne heavy-duty trucks grew again, up 16% on month to 96,000 units in January, but it was down 12% on year, according to the latest data from Beijing-headquartered Commercial Vehicle World (CVWorld) on February 11.
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Jiangsu Shagang Group, China’s largest electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker, told Mysteel on Tuesday that for now, it has no plans to adjust its steel scrap procurement prices, though many of its domestic EAF and blast furnace counterparts have already raised their prices.
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Ferrous market participants in and out of China including ferrous commodities speculators and investors are assessing the actual affection on Vale’s iron ore output based on the press releases since the tailings dam collapses on January 25 at the Feijão mine in Brumadinho in Southern Brazil’s Minas Gerais.
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Iron ore market participants in and out of China are divided on the near-term outlook after price spikes firstly on the Singapore Exchange over February 4-8 and then on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) on February 11, the first working day in China after the Chinese New Year holiday.
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Jiangsu Shagang Group, China’s top privately-owned steel producer in East China’s Jiangsu province, announced to raise its ex-works prices of rebar and wire rod by Yuan 20/tonne ($3/t) and bar-in-coil by Yuan 50/t for sales over February 1-10 to reflect the improvement in the domestic market sentiment, though deals will be scant during the Chinese New Year holiday, a sales official from Shagang confirmed on February 1.
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Sansteel Minguang Co, the listed arm of Fujian Sangang Group, the largest integrated steel producer in South China’s Fujian province, has happily announced it submitted the winning bid to buy a steel capacity quota being offered – again – by West China’s Laiwu Steel Xinjing Co. Assuming the purchase this time proceeds without hiccups, Sansteel will come a step closure to realising plans for a coast-side greenfield steelworks in the province.
