Long steel social inventories in Guangzhou decline on week

Social inventories of long steel (including wire rods and rebar) in Guangzhou decreased 114,700 mt, in the week ended April 7 to 1.91 million mt, showed SMM data. Stocks were 336,100 mt lower than the same period last year.

The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) reported that crude steel output across major mills in China averaged 2.18 million mt per day in the last 11 days of January, down 1.87% from mid-January and up 9.22% from the same period a year ago.

The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) reported Wednesday that crude steel output across major mills in China averaged 2.2 million mt per day in the first 10 days of December, up 4.6% from late November and up 11.96% from the same period a year ago.

Social inventories of long steel (including wire rods and rebar) in Guangzhou decreased 4.4%, or 54,700 mt, in the week ended November 11 to 1.19 million mt, showed SMM data. Stocks were 93.2% higher than the same period last year.

Xintian Steel Group Zhasan Iron & Steel was required to eliminate all of its capacity to comply with Tianjin’s steel industry policies following the issuance of Work Plan to Fight and Prevent Pollution in 2019 on July 3, 2018. As of September 17, 2020, Zhasan Iron & Steel has shut down completely, resulting in a daily loss of 8,000 mt of pig iron output. The mill mainly produced steel billets and had two 1,260 m³ blast furnaces and two 120 mt converters, with annual steel capacity of 3 million mt.

Operating rates at copper rod makers stood at 72.66% in August, a decrease of 3.50 percentage points month on month and 2.79 percentage points year on year, according to SMM survey.

Inventories of refined nickel in the Shanghai bonded areas remained unchanged from a week ago and stood at 20,800 mt as of September 4, showed SMM data.

Inventories of steel rebar across Chinese steelmakers and social warehouses declined in the week ended September 3 as in-plant stocks fell rapidly in a traditional high season.

Social inventories of lead ingots across Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Tianjin dropped more than 4,700 mt from the prior week to 31,600 mt in the week ended September 4.

Operating rates of blast furnaces (BFs) at Chinese steelmakers extended declines as decreased profits prompted steel mills to conduct maintenance.