In the January-April period this year, China’s hot rolled coil (HRC) production amounted to 70.494 million mt, increasing by 7.4 percent year on year, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), while in the January-March period the pace of the increase was nine percent.
In the same period, China’s cold rolled coil (CRC) production totaled 15.03 million mt, up 24.4 percent year on year, also slowing down a little from the 26.6 percent rise in the first quarter.
In April alone, China’s hot rolled coil (HRC) production and cold rolled coil (CRC) production totaled 18.204 million mt and 3.979 million mt, up 1.9 percent and 21.4 percent year on year, while down 1.7 percent and 7.7 percent month on month.
HRC prices in the Chinese domestic market indicated an overall uptrend in April amid improved demand and declining output, which eased the pressure from the supply side to a certain degree. The highest level of HRC prices in April was seen at RMB 3,970/mt ($559/mt) ex-warehouse during April 19-21, while the lowest level in the month was observed on April 1 at RMB 3,770/mt ($531/mt) ex-warehouse, according to SteelOrbis’ data.