In the January-May period this year, China’s rebar production output totaled 96.937 million mt, down 0.9 percent year on year, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In the first five months this year, wire rod production output amounted to 58.379 million mt, down 0.2 percent year on year.
In the same period, China’s welded pipe output reached 24.181 million mt, up 12.0 percent year on year.
In May alone, China’s rebar, wire rod and welded pipe outputs amounted to 19.929 million mt, 11.63 million mt and 5.758 million mt, down 8.8 percent, down 13.3 percent and up 9.4 percent year on year, while down 5.55 percent, down 6.79 percent and down 5.67 percent month on month, respectively.
Rebar prices decreased in May amid the declining trend of rebar futures prices and slack demand from downstream users, with the highest level in May of RMB 3,847/mt seen on May 9, and the lowest level in May of RMB 3,610/mt recorded on May 31, according to SteelOrbis’ data. In June, rebar prices have bottomed up due to production cuts in some regions of China, though the hot and rainy weather has negatively affected the rebar market.
