SHANGHAI, Sep 10 (SMM) – Scheduled output of rebar for September across 31 major producers of long steel is expected to fall some 1.76% from actual output in August to some 7.67 million mt, an SMM survey showed.

Maintenance across more mills and continued environmental curbs weighed on the planned production. Scheduled output of wire rods at these mills is also likely to drop 2.73% from realised output in August, to 3.1 million mt in September.

Rebar output for domestic sales is planned at 7.59 million mt in September, down 0.82% month on month, and exports are likely to fall sharply by 46.6% to 86,000 mt.

East China

Surveyed mills planned to produce 3.1 million mt of rebar this month, nearly 5% lower than actual output in August. Wire rod production will also decline 3.47% to 1.5 million mt.

Production was affected at Shagang in Jiangsu province as the company put a rebar rolling line into maintenance from September 5 to 19. This dragged down its planned rebar output by 12% on the month to 407,000 mt.

Short supplies of molten iron at Yonggang in Jiangsu decreased its scheduled rebar production by 10% to 350,000 mt, and lowered the planned output of wire rods by 13% to 270,000 mt. A blast furnace 5,520 m³ that began on two months of maintenance in mid-August  also accounted for shorter supplies of molten iron.

However, Jiangxi Pinggang Industrial Holdings in Jiangxi province, which was not included in SMM's sample, resumed production across four blast furnaces on Friday September 7, after they were suspended for nearly a month. This is expected to grow long steel daily production by some 10,000 mt. The company owns a monthly capacity of 500,000 mt, SMM learned.

North China

Surveyed mills in the north planned to produce 1.29 million mt of rebar this month, down 0.31% from actual output last month. Their scheduled output of wire rods will dip 5.62% from August, to 655,000 mt.

Most steel plants in Tangshan made little changes in its scheduled production from August as environmental cutbacks continue. Xuanhua Iron & Steel in Hebei province planned to cut rebar output by 4% to 279,000 mt this month.

North-east China

Surveyed mills reported scheduled rebar output at 822,000 mt in September, up 7.5% from August. Production of wire rods is expected to rise 4.32% to stand at 189,000 mt.

At Fushun New Steel, supplies of molten iron grew as all blast furnaces resumed normal operation. This brought the plant's scheduled rebar output up 17% this month, to 280,000 mt.

Higher profit margins encouraged Tonghua Iron & Steel to produce more rebar, instead of hot-rolled coil this month. The mill planned to produce 121,700 mt of rebar in September, up 21% from August.

North-west China

Planned output of rebar in this part of the country is set to fall 2.33% to 1.05 million mt, and that of wire rod will remain little changed at 445,000 mt.

Profits drove Xinjiang Bayi Iron & Steel to produce more wire rods at the expense of rebar. Its planned wire rod production this month may rise some 20% to 60,000 mt, and that of rebar may fall 15% to 165,000 mt. 

Central, south China

Surveyed steelmakers planned to produce 1.42 million mt of rebar in September, down 0.32% on the month, and 315,000 mt of wire rods, flat on the month. 

Maintenance of 15 days at a rebar rolling line at Guangdong Shaogang will affect rebar production by 50,000 mt. Another estimated 22,000 mt of rebar production will be affected at Echeng Steel in Wuhan as its rolling lines undergo maintenance.

Higher profits of rebar also bolstered scheduled output of the product 16% at Hunan Valin Iron & Steel, to 220,000 mt this month.