NBS: China's crude steel output falls faster in Aug

For the first eight months of this year, the country's total crude steel production came in at 691.4 million tonnes, down by 3.3% from the same period last year, the NBS data showed.

On a daily basis, China's crude steel output maintained the downtrend to average 2.51 million tonnes/day in August, down for the second month by another 6.1% from the prior month and marking the lowest since the start of this year, Mysteel Global calculated based on the NBS data.

The significant fall in August's crude steel output was mainly due to the fact that more domestic steelmakers including blast-furnace (BF) steel mills and electric-arc-furnace (EAF) mills scaled back production given their poor profitability on steel sales with the persistent weakness in steel prices and lackluster demand from end-users, Mysteel Global learned.

The result was in line with Mysteel's survey, which showed that capacity utilization rate among the 247 BF mills under its tracking had slipped by 5.91 percentage points on month to 82.96% by the end of August, and that among the 87 EAF mills Mysteel monitors nationwide declined by a larger 11.42 percentage points on month to sit at a low of 30.53%.

China's finished steel prices ended the month lower amid fluctuations, as spot sales remained listless when consumption from end-users had been dampened by high temperatures and frequent heavy rains across most regions of the country, Mysteel Global noted.

As of August 30, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,337/tonne ($470/t) including the 13% VAT, losing by Yuan 44/t from the end of July.

Last month, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 traders under Mysteel's tracking registered only 110,898 t/d on average, lower by 5,597 t/d on month.

China's finished steel output posted an on-year fall of 6.5% to 110.9 million tonnes in August, which sent the total production for the first eight months of this year to 925.7 million tonnes, still higher by 0.4% compared with the same period last year, according to the NBS statistics.

China's steel output for Jan-Aug

Source: NBS

Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com