Hot-rolled coil production to inch up after heating season

SHANGHAI, Apr 10 (SMM) – Production of hot-rolled coil across major steelmakers in China is expected to inch up in April due to the easing of production curbs after the heating season and as some mills recovered from maintenance.

Those steelmakers plan to produce 8.17 million mt of HRC this month, up 4% from realised output in March, showed an SMM survey. About 603,000 mt would be exported, and this is down 12.3% from a month ago. Volumes that enter domestic markets are likely to grow 5.4% to 7.57 million mt. This is set to grow supply pressure.

International offers for HRC stood lower than domestic prices, and this held steel mills from selling their products overseas.