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Stocks of iron ore concentrates at the 186 Chinese mining companies Mysteel surveys every fortnight reversed down to 3.79 million tonnes over January 3-16, a new low since October 10, mainly because most steelmakers in North China had replenished their holdings of concentrates for the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday, according to Mysteel’s latest data release.
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An unloaded coal train operated by Aurizon, Australia’s largest rail freight operator, was derailed near Middlemount in Central Queensland of Northeast Australia at approximately 1pm on January 19 local time, an Aurizon spokesperson confirmed to Mysteel Global on January 20.
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China’s domestic steel scrap market remained generally stable over the week of January 13-17, with Mysteel’s steel scrap price index assessed at Yuan 2,584.1/t ($369.2/t) on delivery to steel plants and including the 13% VAT, nudging higher by a tiny Yuan 0.4/t, according to Mysteel’s database. The scarcity of market transactions with the approach of the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday was the chief reason, Mysteel Global noted.
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Most Chinese steel mills had gradually completed their pre-holiday iron ore replenishment over the January 13-17 week, and now are actively dragging their port inventories from ports to their plants, according to market sources on Monday.
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Coke stocks at the 110 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel’s weekly survey piled up to about 5.1 million tonnes as of January 16, a new high since mid-April 2014, or up another 137,100 tonnes or 2.8% on week, chiefly because of the steady high coke arrivals at plants.
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Yancoal Australia produced 35.6 million tonnes of saleable coal (actual share) from its assets in Queensland and New South Wales in Australia for 2019, or 8% higher from 2018, according to the company’s quarterly report, thus having exceeded its target at 35 million tonnes for last year.
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Mysteel’s national HRB400 20mm dia rebar benchmark price and Mysteel’s Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet price, the two key indicators of China’s steel market dynamics, stayed unchanged at Yuan 3,834/tonne ($558.9/t) and Yuan 3,300/t EXW respectively including the 13% VAT on January 19.
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Indian Ferro Silicon prices have risen sharply in the northeastern region amid a shortage of Ferro Silicon. Most of the Ferro Silicon producers are overbooked for the month. Whereas, few producers in Guwahati are holding material as they expect the prices to rise further.
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China’s crude steel output did not reach the milestone of 1 billion tonnes last year, but it was really just a millimeter away, as the country’s steel production totaled 996 million tonnes for the whole 2019, or up 8.3% on year, according to the latest statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Or put another way, it was less than two days shy, given that last year’s production averaged 2.73 million tonnes/day.
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Prices ofimported
coal prices increased over January 13-17. Purchase inquiries and transactions
were few and far between.
Coking coal imports
Quotations
of imported coking coal to China
PCIcoal imports:
Quotations
of importedPCIcoal to China
Unit: $/tonne, VAT excluded
Thermal coal imports:
Imported coking coal port stocks on Jan 17
(Unit: in ’000 tonnes)
Note: Jingtang port
stocks have been included in Shougang Group’s inventories
