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China’s flat steel exports totalled 22.2 million tonnes over January-August, down 16.4% on year, according to the latest statistics from China’s General Administration of Statistics (GACC) published on September 23. Over the months while COVID-19 was raging abroad, Chinese steel mills were more focused on selling domestically when global steel demand was still on the track of recovery.
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Crude steel output among the 64 countries tracked monthly by the World Steel Association (WSA) grew by 0.6% on year to 156 million tonnes in August, ending the persistent on-year decline over the prior five months, according to WSA data.
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China’s national price of HRB400 20mm dia rebar continued to soften for the eighth consecutive working days. It reached a nearly three-month low of Yuan 3,760/tonne ($550.5/t) including the 13% VAT as of September 24, down another Yuan 4/t on day or a total of Yuan 98/t so far in September.
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India is among one of the key producers and consumers of steel pipes and tubes in the Asia-Pacific region. India’s steel production crossed 110 million tonnes in fiscal 2020 and steel pipes contribution stood at around 8% of India’s steel consumption.
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Tsingshan Group (Tsingshan), the world’s leading stainless steel producer headquartered in East China’s Zhejiang province, is planning to establish a new 4 million tonnes/year stainless steel project in Yangjiang city in South China’s Guangdong province, in partnership with a state-owned investment company Guangdong Guangxin Holdings Group Co (Guangxin), the steelmaker has announced.
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Stocks of the five major steel items held by Chinese traders declined for the third successive week over September 18-24, dipping by another 1.1% on week, as against the 0.7% on-week decline seen in the prior week, Mysteel Global’s latest survey shows. Nevertheless, market sentiment was still comparatively bearish, survey respondents observed.
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Chinese steel mills, traders and end-users have been active in replenishment ahead of China’s upcoming National Day holiday, fearing that trading or transportation might slow down or be halted completely during the long holiday over October 1-8, Mysteel Global has learned from domestic industry sources.
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China’s domestic rebar prices softened amid stability of late as the market sentiment stayed cautious. Transactions in the physical market also weakened amid prevalent market pessimism, Mysteel Global noted.
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China’s steel export prices weakened over September 14-18, their first decline since early May, as steel suppliers – especially traders – lowered their offers when domestic demand turned slack, Mysteel’s latest weekly survey has found. Export trading increased after the gap in prices between Chinese products and those of rivals closed, respondents said.
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The daily steel output among the member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) reversed up slightly by 9,000 t/d or 0.4% in ten days over September 11-20 to 2.15 million tonnes/day on average, and it was 1.9% higher on year, according to the latest release by the association on September 22.
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Rio Tinto, the world’s second largest iron ore miner with core mining assets in Australia, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Dalian Port Company to build its first iron ore bonded blending operations at the port in Northeast China’s Liaoning province, according to the company’s sharing on Wechat on September 22.
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China’s national average price of HRB400 20mm dia rebar assessed by Mysteel continued to weaken for the sixth working day on Tuesday, down another Yuan 12/tonne ($1.8/t) on day to Yuan 3,768/t including the 13% VAT as of September 22. Steel trade picked up slightly after the recent continuous price drops.
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China’s national average price of HRB400 20mm dia rebar assessed by Mysteel, an indicator of China’s steel market dynamics, declined by another Yuan 15/tonne ($2.2/t) from last Friday to Yuan 3,780/t including the 13% VAT as of September 21. The price had softened for five working days in a row and market sentiment deteriorated as steel demand had remained weak.
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In August, after two months of gains in carbon steel sales volume, China Steel Corporation (CSC), Taiwan’s top steel producer headquartered in Kaohsiung, South Taiwan, saw the volume down 10.1% on month or 12.1% lower on year to 776,542 tonnes, according to the company’s latest release on September 21.
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Daily crude steel production among the 318 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel’s regular survey continued falling over the middle ten days of September, due to the lower-than-expected demand from end-users. The tonnage averaged 2.97 million tonnes/day over September 11-20, sliding by another 16,800 t/d or 0.6% from the prior ten days, according to Mysteel’s data.
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Among the four major electrical home appliances manufacturing in China, that of air-conditioner declined the most by 17.2% on month to 15.3 million units for August, though the volume was still 0.5% higher on year, according to the latest data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), though market sources remained optimistic on higher production for the last quarter of 2020.
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Last week, billet stocks held by traders in Tangshan, China’s top steel producing city in North China’s Hebei province, declined for the first time since the end of June, though only by 3.5% on week, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey. Steel re-rollers in the city, the major consumers of the local billets, had largely resumed normal production after a ban restricting their production had been lifted from September 8.
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Mergers and acquisitions since 2016 have grown China’s Baowu Steel Group (Baowu) into the world’s top steel producer as well as hitting its ambitious target of a 100 million tonnes/year steelmaking capacity one year ahead of schedule, and M&As will be a main theme in the company’s next five-year development, Chen Derong, the company chairman, sent a clear message.
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The prices of both rebar and hot-rolled coil (HRC) in China’s physical market declined further over September 14-18, as the domestic steel production remained stable while the demand recovery was below the expectation, Mysteel Global noted.
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China's national price of the HRB 400 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of the domestic steel-market sentiment, continued its downtrend to reach Yuan 3,795/tonne ($561/t) including the 13% VAT as of September 18, losing a slight Yuan 1/t on day, according to Mysteel’s data.
