China's rebar output totaled 100.93 million tonnes during January-July this year, posting an on-year decline of 11.2% on year, according to the latest release from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on August 19.
During July alone, China produced 13.22 million tonnes of rebar, dropping by a huge 13.6% on year and by a larger 15.6% from June, Mysteel Global calculated based on the NBS release.
Behind last month's drop in output was most likely the heavy losses being sustained by Chinese steelmakers in their rebar sales. This had prompted many to halt operations and conduct maintenance on blast furnaces and rolling mills, Mysteel Global noted.
Mysteel's survey showed that during last month, the sampled blast furnace mills nationwide were still losing an average of Yuan 98/tonne ($14.5/t) on their rebar sales. This was only a slight improvement on their average Yuan 109/t loss in June.
Meanwhile, electric arc furnace steelmakers under the same survey only enjoyed a small Yuan 39/t profit when selling rebars last month, compared with an average of Yuan 52/t in June.
On the other hand, rebar consumption contracted further last month when high temperatures, two typhoons and limited funding for infrastructure and civil projects greatly slowed progress on outdoor construction, Mysteel Global pointed out.
During July, the combined tonnage of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil traded among the 237 trading houses under Mysteel's tracking averaged 85,238 tonnes/day in July, down by 6.9% or by 6,317 t/d on month.
The sluggish spot transactions also intensified market pessimism, exerting downside pressure on domestic rebar prices throughout the month. On July 31, Mysteel assessed the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar at Yuan 3,234/t, down by Yuan 66/t from end-June.
Meanwhile, China's finished steel output came in at 116.46 million tonnes in July, posting a 4.1% on-year slip, while the total output over the first seven months edged down by 1.2% on year to sit at 836.16 million tonnes, the NBS data revealed.
Source:Mysteel Global