In 2021, China’s hot rolled coil (HRC) production amounted to 179.327 million mt, up 4.3 percent year on year, which was 0.2 percentage points slower than the increase rate recorded in the January-November period of the same year.
Moreover, the pace of growth was much smaller than the 12.2 percent increase year on year in 2020. This reflects a demand slowdown though, in contrast to rebar the production of which fell in 2021, output of HRC was still on the rise, though gradually, as the situation and prices in the flat steel segment were much better.
In December alone, China’s HRC output reached 15.999 million mt, up 3.5 percent, which shifted from the year-on-year decline of 8.8 percent recorded in November, while it was 24.0 percent month on month.
Cold rolled coil (CRC) output in China in 2021 reached 45.109 million mt, up by 11.6 percent year on year, which was 0.1 percentage point slower than the growth recorded in the first 11 months of the year.
In December, CRC output amounted to 4.414 million mt, up 7.4 percent year on year, 5.2 percentage points faster than the rise recorded in November, while up 12.5 percent month on month.