China’s finished steel production up 6.6% to 2.2 mln tpd in late January

Member mills of the China Iron & Steel Association (Cisa) raised their finished steel production from January 21-31, from the preceding 10 days, according to data published by the association on Wednesday February 3.

January 21-31 output
Crude steel: 2.18 million tonnes per day, down 1.87%
Finished steel: 2.20 million tpd, up 6.60%
Hot metal: 1.92 million tpd, down 2.07%

Mills’ finished steel inventories
13.76 million tonnes, down 280,400 million tonnes (2%)

Spot market inventories

Hot-rolled coil: 1.41 million tonnes, up 1.4%
Cold-rolled coil: 1.02 million tonnes, up 1%
Plate: 1.01 million tonnes, up 6.3%
Wire rod: 1.73 million tonnes, up 26.3%
Rebar: 4.56 million tonnes, up 25.6%
Total (all five major products): 9.73 million tonnes, up 1.38 million tonnes or 16.5%

Cisa’s output data for the preceding 10 days can be found here.

What to read next
Despite the current headwinds, strategic partnerships and continued investment in the right areas, coupled with the underlying strong long-term demand fundamentals, will pave the way for success for lithium producers, according to the participants of the executive panel during the Fastmarkets Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials Conference, which took place from June 23-26 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The US and Europe must adopt long-term, consistent policies and should learn lessons from China, according to lithium industry experts speaking at Fastmarkets’ Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials Conference in Las Vegas, US, over June 22-25.
This consultation was done as an adhoc methodology review process, aiming to better reflect the physical market under indexation, considering its reduced liquidity linked to the combination of seasonal demand patterns and the implementation of cross-border import tariffs between the US and China. No feedback was received during the consultation period and therefore Fastmarkets will […]
Fastmarkets has corrected the rationale for its MB-CO-0021 cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, % payable of Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end), which was published incorrectly on Wednesday July 2 due to a reporter error.
Downward pressure on global steel prices, caused by continued high levels of Chinese steel production at prices below costs, creates incentives than can lead to a rebalancing of global supply and demand and a boost to profitability, World Steel Dynamics chief executive officer Philipp Englin said at the Global Steel Dynamics Forum in New York on Wednesday June 18.
The global steel industry’s move to decarbonize and China’s penchant for lower-grade ores in recent years have uncovered challenges for high-grade iron ore to live out its value in both the blast furnace-based steelmaking route and the direct-reduction iron process, delegates told Fastmarkets during the Singapore International Ferrous Week (SIFW), which takes place from May 26-30.