Daily crude steel output among the member mills of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) rose during June 11-20, with the tonnage edging up by 0.8% or 17,000 tonnes/day from early June to average 2.1 million t/d, according to the latest release from the association on June 25. During June 1-10, the members' daily output had averaged 2.08 million t/d, higher by 3.8% from the last eleven days of May, as Mysteel Global reported.
Despite the rise, the mid-June figure still represented a mild decline of 2.2% compared with the same period last year, the CISA survey results showed.
Based on the performance of its member mills, CISA estimated that daily crude steel output among both member mills and non-member mills decreased by 1% from June 1-10 to average 2.76 million t/d during the mid-June period.
On the other hand, daily finished steel output among CISA member mills averaged 2.05 million t/d over June 11-20, rising by 5.6% or 108,000 t/d from the first ten days of this month, according to the release.
CISA attributed the moderate rise in finished steel items mainly to several members resuming operations on some rolling mills.
But the rise in production could also stem from steelmakers still being able to earn some profits on their finished steel sales, Mysteel Global suggests, which encouraged them to maintain or ramp up output during the period.
Mysteel's weekly survey also showed that during the week of June 11-17, combined production of the five major finished steel items – rebar, wire rod, HRC, CRC and medium plate – among the 137 Chinese steelmakers Mysteel follows totaled 8.68 million tonnes, rising by 1.3% or 109,700 tonnes on week.
However, the uptick in production led to the steady accumulation of finished steel stocks among CISA member mills, with the tonnage swelling by 6.1% or 1.03 million tonnes from the ten days prior to reach 17.9 million tonnes as of June 20, another CISA release showed.
Moreover, the dull end-user demand has curbed the destocking pace of retail steel stocks, with the tonnage of finished steel products held by traders in the 21 cities CISA checks edging down by just a negligible 0.4% or 40,000 tonnes in the mid-June period to 9.34 million tonnes as of June 20, another CISA release revealed.
Source:Mysteel Global
