Eased production curbs in Tangshan buoy scheduled rebar output for Aug  

SHANGHAI, Aug 8 (SMM) – Looser environmental controls in China's top steelmaking city of Tangshan for August grew the overall scheduled output of rebar across major Chinese mills this month, but the increase failed to meet expectations, an SMM survey found on Wednesday August 7. 

Planned output of rebar in August across 31 major producers of long steel in China is expected to climb 0.78% from the actual output in July and stand at 8.69 million mt, an SMM survey showed.

Rebar output for domestic sales is planned at 8.49 million mt in August, up 6.72% month on month, while scheduled exports are mostly flat on the month at 200,000 mt.

Surveyed steelmakers in the north planned to produce 1.83 million mt of rebar this month, up 6.82% from the actual production in July, and this accounted for the rise in scheduled output.

However, steel mills in central China lowered their planned output by 2.5% on the month, to 1.6 million mt for August, as falling steel prices and higher costs squeezed their margins. Local steel prices were weighed by slower construction demand amid the lingering impact of the rainy season. Steel mills started to use in-plant stocks of iron ore that they procured at high prices, and this grew costs. 

August scheduled rebar output across surveyed mills in other areas limitedly changed from the actual production in July.

Separately, the scheduled output of wire rods at surveyed mills in China is likely to rise 1% from the realised output in July, to 2.91 million mt in August.