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Japan’s crude steel demand for the July-September quarter is expected to plunge by 27.9% year on year and down 3.2% on quarter to 17.7 million tonnes, according to the forecast released by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on July 8, indicating the domestic steel mills will have to maintain low production.
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China’s fixed asset investment on railways and rail infrastructure reached Yuan 325.8 billion ($46.4 billion) over January-June, up Yuan 38 billion or 1.2% on year. Within the total, the investment in railway infrastructure alone reached Yuan 245.1 billion, recording an on-year increase of 3.7%, according to a post on the website of the China State Railway Group (China Railway) on July 5.
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China’s 91 blast-furnace mills under Mysteel’s monthly survey have reported that the gross profits they earned on the three major steel products all shrank last month, with their average margin on rebar plunging the deepest, tumbling by Yuan 163/tonne ($23.3/t) on month to just Yuan 92/t for June. Survey respondents chiefly blamed higher production costs for procuring raw materials against lower rebar prices amid sliding wet-season steel demand.
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The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the steel industry in North China’s Hebei province, the country’s largest steel production base, reversed down to 51.5 in June after the prior three months’ continuous increase, according to the latest release by the Hebei Metallurgical Industry Association.
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Sales of heavy-duty trucks across China enjoyed a healthy 59% on-year surge in June to reach 165,000 units, according to a preliminary estimate published by Beijing-headquartered Commercial Vehicle World (CVWorld). Last month’s sales were still lower by 8% from May, however.
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Japan’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for its manufacturing industry recovered by 1.7 basis point on month to 40.1 for June, indicating that the operations and market sentiment had been improving after a few months of declines since February, according to the release from au Jibun Bank Corporation on July 1.
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China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for its manufacturing industry reversed up 0.3 basis point on month to 50.9 in June with major elements such as new orders and production posting gains on month, according to the release from the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on June 30.
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After three months of recoveries, China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the steel industry reversed down in June by 1.6 basis points on month to 49.3, as steel production rapidly grew while demand softened, and the PMI for H1 averaged 45.3, down 5.5 basis points on year mainly because of the COVOD-19 outbreak, according to the release by CFLP Steel Logistics Professional Committee (CSLPC) on June 30.
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Japan’s eight major automakers posted their May production fell 62.8% on year or 1% on month to 912,377 units in total from all of their global plants, Mysteel Global calculated basing on their individual releases on June 29, which was mainly due to the negative impact of the COVID-19 on their operations and market demand, according to market sources.
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China's steel PMI for June eased to 49.3, or down 1.6 basis points from May, according to the release by CFLP Steel Logistics Professional Committee on June 30. A detailed report will be posted soon.
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Concerns are mounting among Japanese stainless producers and dealers about the large volumes of stainless cold-rolled coil imports arriving, and fears that the domestic market will be disrupted. “I can’t see any signs that imports are tapering off and yet, domestic demand is shrinking,” a sales official from a major stainless distributor in Tokyo lamented. “The supply-demand balance is certain to soften further, which make our business situation even more severe,” he said.
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Japan’s crude steel output including carbon and special steel dropped more substantially in May, down 31.8% on year to about 5.9 million tonnes, as against the 23.5% on-year fall in April, which was mainly due to the negative impact of the pandemic on steel demand, according to the latest data released by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) on June 22.
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Chinese production of air-conditioners declined by 14.7% on year to 19.4 million units during May, according to the latest data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics, with the May result taking total production over January-May to some 78 million units, lower by 23.1% on year, the NBS data show. However, the pace of the decline had slowed marginally from the 24.8% decrease charted over the first four months.
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Chinese shipbuilders received new vessels orders equivalent to 11.6 million dead weight tons (dwt) in total over January-May, down 1.2% on year, according to the latest release by the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI) published on June 19. Demand for new vessels stayed dull as global freight markets continue to be buffeted by the coronavirus storm, Chinese market sources said Friday, admitting they were pessimistic about the medium- to long-term future for the country’s shipbuilding industry.
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Japan’s domestic austenitic or 300-series stainless cold-rolled sheet prices are expected to decline further despite producers’ efforts to lift offering prices, as actual demand is too weak to lend any support to the prices, domestic market sources shared on June 19.
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The falloff in orders for Japanese steel placed by overseas customers grappling with the coronavirus outbreak led the country’s steel exports during May to plunge 17.5% on year to 2.48 million tonnes, according to preliminary data released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance on June 17. The May total was also down 11.8% on month, the data show.
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Japan’s domestic ordinary carbon steel sales continued to fall in April, down 27.8% on year to 2.63 million tonnes, only slightly higher than the 2.61 million tonnes for December 1968, according to the data released by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) on June 16.
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Chinese industry continued to recover in May, recording year-on-year growth of 4.4%, according to the latest release of China’s National Bureau of Statistics published on June 15. The May result was faster than the 3.9% for April – the first month of positive growth after several negative months when the COVID-19 outbreak was raging, Mysteel Global notes.
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The declines in China’s total fixed asset investment (FAI) and the funding in the property market slowed further by May, with the former down 6.3% on year over January-May as against the 10.3% on-year fall in the first four months, and the latter dipping 0.3% as against the 3.3% fall by April, according to the latest data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on June 15.
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China’s crude steel output picked up the pace again in May, posting a 1.9% on-year growth over January-May to 411.8 million tonnes from the 1.3% on-year rise for the first four months, with the output for May alone at a record high, according to the statistics from the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
