China's imports of bauxite, the main ore source of aluminium and which has to be first refined into alumina, rose to a record high in the March quarter, due to greater demand and lower sea freight costs.

China’s output of pig iron increased 7.5% to 72.02 million mt in April from a month ago, to generate a year-over-year decline of 1.2%, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Friday.

SMM data showed that HRC stocks across social warehouses and steelmakers decreased 4.17% in the week ended May 14 to 4.26 million mt, marking the ninth straight weekly decline.

Chinese electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmakers operating rates continued to edge higher as of early May, driven by the resumption of producers in central China as the spread of the coronavirus has stalled. However, the rally in operations will be constrained due to a surge in feedstock steel scrap prices. 

China’s imports of copper ore and concentrate increased about 14% to 2.03 million mt in April from a month earlier, according to data from China’s General Administration of Customs released on Thursday.

Data published by the industry body on Tuesday showed that social inventories of hot- and cold-rolled plates/coils, heavy & medium plates, wire rods and rebar in 20 Chinese cities stood at 16.24 million mt as of the end of April, down 930,000 mt, or 5.4% from April 20.

China’s imports of aluminium scrap expanded in March, as secondary aluminium producers in the country rushed to fulfill backlogged orders after suspending production for more than a month due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Data from China customs showed that China imported 77,000 mt of aluminium scrap last month, down 39.1% from March 2019. That brought total imports in the first three months of 2020 to 199,000 mt, down 40.1% from the same period last year.

Hebei Jinxi Iron & Steel plans to put a 2,000m³ blast furnace into operation at the end of May, SMM learned.

The global widespread of COVID-19 has forced many countries to enforce stringent containment measures which result in a heavy impact on global economic activity. Over the past two months, we saw serious disruption of manpower, transportation and production in China. We are now seeing these scenarios happening around the world. 

Inventories of hot-rolled coils of steel sheets used to produce home appliances and cars in China fell for a third straight this week, as demand from north China was strong. SMM data showed that HRC stocks across social warehouses and steelmakers decreased 2.2% in the week ended April 2 to 5.45 million mt, 73.62% higher than the same period after the Lunar New Year holiday last year. The stocks fell 1.38% in the prior week.