In August this year, China’s HRC production lost six percent or 846,000 mt month on month and came to 13.12 million mt, though still posting a 9.7 percent increase compared to the same month last year. Weaker local demand and high competition in the export market led to some output reduction. Average local HRC prices in China fell by five percent or RMB 190/mt ($27/mt) over the month, according to the SteelOrbis data.
In the January-August period, Chinese HRC production amounted to 101,016 million mt. 10.6 percent higher year on year.
At the same time, CRC production improved slightly, rising by 0.7 percent month on month to 2.71 million mt in August. Auto production increased by 10.6 percent month on month in August after a long-standing decline, which brought some better sentiment to the CRC segment.
