MMi Daily Iron Ore Report (December 22)

After market close, the Ministry of Commerce issued policies regarding the management of steel product export licenses, confirming market rumors from the past two days. This move exceeded general expectations, as previous speculation about such measures had often been dismissed as "crying wolf." Now, the policy has indeed arrived. What is the actual situation? Let’s examine SMM’s analysis.

During the survey period from December 2 to December 8, both the operating rate and capacity utilization rate of rebar rolling lines at steel mills in the Central China region declined; similarly, the operating rate and capacity utilization rate of wire rod rolling lines also decreased.

According to the SMM survey, the impact from maintenance on construction steel declined during the current period (9.6-9.12) as steel mills resumed production as planned after the military parade, while some completed routine maintenance on blast furnaces, with both the furnaces and their supporting rebar rolling lines returning to operation. The impact from maintenance on construction steel reached 1.213 million mt this period, down 20,600 mt MoM.

According to research by SMM, on March 20th, the blast furnace operating rate was 89.45%, marking a 0.3% increase compared to the previous period. The blast furnace capacity utilization rate stood at 90.38%, rising by 0.50% compared to the previous period. Additionally, the daily average hot metal production of sample steel mills reached 2.16 million tons, marking an increase of 11,900 tons compared to the previous period.

According to China's National Bureau of Statistics,  the purchasing price index of major raw materials dropped 11.6 percentage points on the month points to 61.2% in June, and the producer price index fell 9.2 percentage points to 51.4% from May.

Anti-dumping duties range from 0% to 26.1%, while the countervailing duties range from 13.7% to 44.7%

Daily output averaged 2.006 million mt during Apr 11-20, up 2.59% from Apr 1-10

Stocks shrank 2.51% from a week ago to stand at 1.79 million mt as of Apr 11, down 3.57% from a year ago

As of Thursday Nov 22, HRC in-plant stocks rose for a second straight week to stand at 1.03 million mt

While overall profits dipped in Jun, hot-rolled steel profits at mills that used blast furnaces stood above 1,100 yuan/mt from end-Apr