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Mysteel’s assessment of the seaborne premium medium-volatile (PMV) hard coking coal price to China had been on an uptrend for the fourth week, up another $9/tonne to $236/t CFR North China by May 7, or the highest since the start of price tracking on November 4 2019, as a result of China’s strong demand for both domestic and overseas coking coal while the limited availability of PMV globally, market sources shared.
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The daily consumption of imported iron ore sintering fines among the 64 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel’s survey continued to grow for the second survey period over April 22-May 6, up by 3,000 tonnes/day or 0.5% from April 8-21 to 560,600 t/d on average, reaching a two-month high, mainly relying on the stocks at the works instead of hauling from the ports.
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China’ steel mills and traders have renewed their interest in exporting, lured by the far higher global steel prices that are more than sufficient to cover the difference now that Beijing has removed tax rebates on most of the commercial-grade steel exports since May 1, market sources shared on May 8, a make-up working day in China after the Labour Day holiday over May 1-5.
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Scrap utilization in crude steel output among China’s 211 mills under Mysteel’s survey inched up 0.98 percentage point on month to 25.38% on average, with the samples including both integrated and electric-arc-furnace (EAF) plants and those with both blast furnace (BF) and EAF facilities.
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On May 8, a make-up workday in China after the Labour Day holiday, the country’s national HRB 400E 20mm rebar price soared Yuan 162/tonne ($25/t) to a new high since Mysteel commenced the assessment on March 3 2011, and spot sales of construction steel among the 237 traders under Mysteel’s tracking recovered 2.5% on day.
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SteelMint’s weekly low-grade Indian iron ore fines (Fe 57%) export index moved down by $2/t to $90/t FOB east coast India. Demand for low grade ore remained weak on stricter pollution control norms in China favouring demand for high grade ore.
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China’s domestic steel prices have been on another round of climb-ups after the Labour Day holiday over May 1-5, all according to Mysteel’s assessments, as both domestic demand and market optimism had been lending support, and steelmaking raw material prices have been following closely behind, Mysteel Global noted.
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The Mongolian government targets to open a 258.4 km railway line, connecting Tavan Tolgoi, its largest coking coal mine in South Gobi region to Gashuun Sukhait checkpoint also in South Gobi bordering China by July next year, and once on stream, this will facilitate the country’s minerals logistics and at the same time substantially reduce the transportation cost for coal, a government post shared.
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Daily crude steel output among the member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) increased further by 3.3% or 75,534 tonnes/day in ten days to around 2.4 million t/d on average over April 21-30, according to the association’s release on May 7, confirming that the domestic steel mills had been in general ramping up their steel output to maximize the good days with high steel margins and robust demand.
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The benefit of covering the ferrous market news for long especially being very close to the happenings in the iron ore market when working in the world’s three pricing reporting agencies (PRAs) is to immediately know that the 62% iron ore pricing index hit a historical high on May 6 when it exceeded $200/dmt CFR China, without even bothering to check the data.
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Tata Steel sales have hit a record high at 17.31 mn t in FY ’21 on the back of strong recovery in demand from end-users in H2. The volumes are up by 2% in comparison with 16.97 mn t in the previous fiscal, SteelMint learned from the recent press release in BSE filing. However, the same remained largely stable at 4.67 mn t in Q4 FY ’21 compared with 4.65 mn t in Q3.
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Prices of China’s steelmaking raw materials including iron ore and coke soared substantially in the first two working days after the Labour Day holiday over May 1-5, with the seaborne iron ore price touching a record high, all on the support of the production enthusiasm among the domestic steel mills on robust steel demand and hefty steel margins.
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China’s prices of imported iron ore for both port inventories and seaborne cargoes increased further on May 7, and trading improved as well.
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China exported 25.7 million tonnes of finished steel over January-April, up 24.5% on year, and imports totalled 4.9 million tonnes over the same period, up 16.9% on year, the latest statistics from China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) published on May 7 showed, with the growth rates largely the same as during first quarter.
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China’s foreign trade value gained 28.5% on year over January-April to reach Yuan 11.62 trillion ($1.79 trillion), with exports up more substantially by 33.8% on year to Yuan 6.32 trillion and imports up 22.7% on year to Yuan 5.3 trillion, according to the latest data from the country’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) announced on May 7.
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China imported 90.1 million tonnes of coal and lignite for all uses over January-April, lower by a large 28.8% on year, according to new data from the country’s General Administration of Customs (GACC). For April only, China’s coal and lignite imports fell 20.5% on month or 29.8% on year to 21.7 million tonnes, with the on-month decline mainly attributed to lower tonnage from Mongolia and Indonesia, according to sources.
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China’s iron ore imports continued to grow over January-April to reach around 382 million tonnes, higher by 24 million tonnes or 6.7% on year, though the pace was slightly slower than the 8% on-year rise recorded for the first three months, the latest statistics released by the country's General Administration of Customs published on May 7 show.
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May is barely a week old and yet Shagang Group (Shagang), China’s largest electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steelmaker, has so far raised its steel scrap procurement prices twice this month by a total of Yuan 180/tonne ($27.8/t) for all deliveries. The increases, on May 1 and 7 respectively, reflect the domestic steel mills’ growing appetite for scrap and the limited delivery volumes they’re receiving, Mysteel Global noted.
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China’s silicomanganese output continued to grow in April, driven by the positive profit margins available to domestic smelters, with the tonnage totalling 911,348 tonnes, the highest since January, according to Mysteel’s latest monthly survey among 121 Chinese smelters nationwide.
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The surges in the prices of the series of ferrous products including steel, iron ore, and coke since April, have further divided the ferrous market sources in and out of China on their views regarding the possibility of China’s steel output cuts despite Beijing’s reiterations, as steel demand both in and out of China has been robust and steel margins have been high at Yuan 600-1,000/tonne ($93-155/t) depending on products.
