Hot-rolled coil supplies to expand 10% in May as wider margins spur steelmakers

SHANGHAI, May 13 (SMM) – Production of hot-rolled coil across major steelmakers in China is expected to sharply expand in May as steelmakers recover from maintenance and as wider profit margins fuel production enthusiasm.

Those mills plan to produce a total of 9.1 million mt of HRC this month, up 10% from realised output in April but down 2% from the corresponding month of 2018, showed an SMM survey.

About 695,000 mt would be exported, and this is up 10.5% from a month ago but down 22% from a year ago. Volumes slated to enter domestic markets are likely to grow 9.9% to 8.41 million mt, barely changed on a yearly basis.

Such a substantial increase in supply is set to weigh on prices.