China’s steel output in Jan and Feb 2020 increased by 3.1pc over the same period last year, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
As per the China Iron and Steel Association (Cisa), in early March, crude steel output was 18.886mn mt.
For early March, Cisa had production of pig iron at 16.69581mn mt, and steel at 16.676mn mt.
Average daily output of crude steel was 1.886mn mt, an increase of 4.02pc over the previous year, and 0.06pc, month-on-month in 2020.
Current inventory of major iron and steel companies, as per Cisa, is 121.40mn mt, an increase of 923,900mt or 4.51pc over the Oct-Dec 2019 period.
The construction sector in China is coming back to life post the COVID-19 lockdown, which has pushed steel demand up.
Prices, based on inventory, have however, fallen, as the extensive COVID impact on supply chains begins to ease.
During the intense lock-down period – 16 districts from January-early March – steel inventories piled up port side.
Chinese billet was offered at $445/mt fob China main port, and in the domestic market it was priced at RMB 3,130/mt ex-Tangshan, the Davis Index learned from the sources.
Asian steel producers including Formosa steel in Vietnam and Tokyo Steel in Japan have lowered steel prices for April shipments by $40-50/mt.