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.

An SMM survey showed that 35 steelmakers in China plan to produce a total of 9.34 million mt of hot-rolled coils and plates in May, up 3.1% from the realised output of 9.06 million mt in April.

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. 

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.

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

An SMM survey showed that 35 steelmakers in China plan to produce 9.03 million mt of hot-rolled coils and plates in April, down 0.2% from the realised output of 9.03 million mt in March.

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. 

Social inventories of lead ingots in China continued to trend downsides this week, but the decline slowed down from a week ago due to rising supplies of secondary lead.

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.