Daily crude steel output among the member mills of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) rebounded moderately during August 1-10, with the tonnage rising by 5.8% or 109,000 tonnes/day from last eleven days of July to average 1.97 million t/d, according to the latest release from the association on August 14.

Despite the production gain, the output level was still 4.9% lower than the corresponding period last year, the same release revealed.

Based on the same dataset, the association estimated that combined crude steel output among both member mills and non-member mills during early August averaged 2.67 million t/d, mounting by the same 5.8% from late-July.

To explain the "relatively large changes" in crude steel output, CISA said that some large steelmaker-members had resumed operations during August 1-10 after completing maintenance stoppages, resulting in the production rise.

During the period, member mills in North China, the hub of China's steel sector, posted the largest gains in crude steel output among the six regions that CISA regularly checks, the data show. This was mainly because of the resumption of blast furnaces and sintering machines in Tangshan City after the mandated curbs imposed during July 25-29 were lifted, as Mysteel Global has reported.

Member mills in the region produced 645,000 t/d of crude steel in early August on average, rising by 12% or 69,000 t/d from the average during July 21-31, the CISA release data showed.

On the other hand, daily finished steel output among CISA member mills averaged 1.82 million t/d over the first ten days of the month, dropping significantly by 8.2% or 163,000 t/d from late July, the same release showed.

The association blamed the steep decline in finished steel output on a high comparison base from the prior period, saying that several member mills had accumulated large stockpiles in late July, as Mysteel Global has reported.

However, the CISA release indicated that even when this factor is set aside, daily output of finished steel from these mills remained 5.3% below the level recorded during July 21-31.

Despite the pullback in output, finished steel inventories held by those CISA-affiliated mills had mounted markedly. This was partly due to the subdued demand in the summer lull,which also drove up retail inventories of finished steel over the period, Mysteel Global noted.

Specifically, the tonnage stored by member mills had climbed by 5.6% or 910,000 tonnes from the level on July 31 to top 17.18 million tonnes as of August 10. On the other hand, finished steel held in commercial warehouses in the 21 cities CISA monitors had edged up only marginally by 0.6% or 60,000 tonnes to 9.86 million tonnes as of the same day, data from two other CISA releases indicated.

Source:Mysteel Global