HRC Output Increased Sharply With the End of Maintenance in North China

SHANGHAI, Apr 4 (SMM) - According to SMM research, the operating rates of EAF-based steel mills declined slightly by 0.82 percentage point to 59.5%. In terms of BF-based steel mills, the output decreased by 70,000 mt to 430,700 mt affected by the maintenance and poor profits. As such, the rebar output increased only slightly last week. In the follow-up stage, due to the low profits of rebar, steel mills were more willing to produce steel plate. Coupled with the expectations of production cuts caused by continuous losses of EAF-based steel mills in south China and south-west China, the subsequent rebar supply is unlikely to increase sharply. In terms of HRC, the impact of maintenance in north China has further weakened, and thus the weekly HRC output continued to expand. In the follow-up period, SMM expects that the HRC output will continue to increase, but the growth rate will slow down.