CISA: Members' late Sept daily steel output slips 0.6%

Daily crude steel output among the member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) finally eased over September 21-30 after steadily rising since early August, according to the association's latest release on October 10. Daily output during the last ten days of September fell by 0.6% or 13,600 tonnes/day from mid-September to average 2.13 million t/d.

Market sources pointed out that Tangshan, the country's largest steel-producing hub in North China's Hebei province, had imposed curbs on local steel mills' sintering operations in late September to improve air quality, affecting blast furnace production to some extent. In addition, the mills' enthusiasm for production had also been dampened by meagre steel margins.

Based on the latest data, CISA also estimated the country's daily crude steel output at 2.84 million t/d for late September, inching down 0.5% from September 11-20.

During the last ten days of last month, the spot trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses that Mysteel tracks had picked up by a large 29.9% or 47,159 t/d in ten days to 204,715 t/d on average, as end-users had opted to replenish some quantities before the National Day holiday over October 1-7.

Higher spot sales saw finished steel stocks at the association's member mills reverse down by 10.1% or 1.8 million tonnes from September 20 to reach 15.9 million tonnes, though the volume was still some 40.6% higher than that at the start of 2022, the CISA data showed.

Meanwhile, the improvement in demand saw domestic finished steel prices recover as well in late September. For example, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment moved up by Yuan 64/tonne ($9/t) from that on September 20 to reach Yuan 4,170/t including the 13% VAT by September 30.

Written by Rong Zhang, zhangronga@mysteel.com
Edited by Zhenqi Yang, yangzhenqi@mysteel.com