In December last year, China’s hot rolled coil (HRC) production amounted to 15.666 million mt, up 11.8 percent compared to November or about 1.6 million mt. The year-on-year growth reached 17.4 percent, which was 0.8 percentage points faster than the increase rate in November.
In December, average local HRC prices in China increased first, reaching their highest level of RMB 5,030/mt for the month on December 22 amid rising HRC futures prices and strong iron ore prices, though HRC prices edged down in late December, according to the SteelOrbis’ data. In January, average local HRC prices fluctuated within a limited range due to the approach of the Chinese New Year holiday.
In 2020 overall, China’s HRC production rose by 12.2 percent year on year to 170.461 million mt.
Cold rolled coil (CRC) output in China in December reached 3.973 million mt, up by 12.5 percent year on year, which was 5.5 percentage points faster than the year-on-year growth recorded in November. In 2020, CRC production rose by 3.9 percent to 39.123 million mt.