In 2019, Chinese hot rolled coil (HRC) production amounted to 149.383 million mt, 10.1 percent higher year on year, with the growth remaining unchanged compared to that recorded in the January-November period. At the same time, producers were mostly not very aggressive in the export market as strong local demand consumed most additional volumes.
The situation in the HRC market was healthy in December and was much better than the situation in the long steel segment, and so mills continued to increase production of HRC. In December, China’s HRC production rose by 10.3 percent month on month and came to 13.158 million mt, seeing a 12 percent increase compared to the same month of the previous year. Average local HRC prices in China added 1.5 percent or RMB 55/mt ($8/mt) during the month in question, according to the SteelOrbis data.
At the same time, in 2019 Chinese cold rolled coil (CRC) production totaled 32.516 million mt, up 3.5 percent year on year, with this increase rate 1.1 percentage points higher than that recorded in the January-November period. In December, CRC production gained 1.6 percent month on month to 3.002 million mt.