NBS: China's Q1 pig iron output falls 2.9% YoY
In March alone, China produced 72.7 million tonnes of pig iron, down by a marked 6.9% on year, the NBS data released on April 16 showed.
Mysteel's survey among domestic BF steelmakers showed that by the end of March, daily hot metal output among the 247 BF mills under Mysteel's tracking averaged 2.21 million tonnes/day, lower by some 9.1% on year and down 0.7% on month.
The slack demand from steel end-users, plus the heavy losses on steel sales, made domestic steelmakers reluctant to lift their production last month, even though March is usually a peak month for steel consumption, Mysteel Global noted.
As of the end of March, only around 28% of the sampled 247 BF mills had earned some profits on steel sales, lower by some 30 percentage points compared with the same period last year, the survey showed.
The retreat in the pig iron production also weakened the steelmakers' demand for feed materials, causing the prices of iron ore and coke to slump in March, market sources observed.
By March 29, Mysteel PORTDEX 62% Australian Fines in Qingdao settled at Yuan 767/wmt ($107.9/wmt), down by a large Yuan 154/wmt or 16.7% from end-February. On the same day, Mysteel's assessment of the national composite coke price had lost Yuan 304.3/t or 14.5% on month to reach Yuan 1,796.2/t.
Entering April, however, China's BF steelmakers have gradually lifted production after seeing their profit margins recover, and their pig iron output is expected to pick up this month, Mysteel's latest survey suggests.
Written by Anthea Shi, shihui@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
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