According to a new report issued by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), in the January-November period this year China produced 643.26 million mt of pig iron, 738.94 million mt of crude steel and 1.04344 billion mt of finished steel, increasing by 0.4 percent, 1.1 percent and 2.4 percent year on year, respectively.
In November this year, China’s finished steel exports amounted to 8.12 million mt, up 5.6 percent month on month and declining by 15.5 percent year on year. Meanwhile, there is an increasing number of antidumping (AD) investigations against China’s steel exports, which will exert negative pressure on the domestic finished steel market from the supply side.
According to the CISA’s report, as of the end of November this year overall domestic inventories of the main finished steel products in China totaled 8.52 million mt, down 4.25 percent month on month and decreasing by 1.22 percent compared to the beginning of the current year.
As also indicated by the CISA, as of December 16 this year the average coking coal price in China indicated an increase of 151 percent compared to the beginning of this year, while the composite steel price index (CSPI) for the Chinese domestic market only increased by 83.43 percent over the same period, thereby exerting negative pressure on the margins of steel producers. Against the backdrop of slacker demand for finished steel in China amid colder winter weather conditions, it is thought that finished steel prices in China will likely indicate some slight fluctuations in the coming period, as stated by the CISA.