Chinese steel futures edged lower on Monday after recent sharp gains that pushed the metal to a six-month high last week, but a firm outlook for demand limited price losses.
China's daily crude steel output averaged 2.53 million tons between May 10 and May 20, Argonaut Securities analyst Helen Lau said in a note. That compares with the April daily average of 2.56 million tons, which was the highest since at least May 2014.
"The rising steel production is driven by strong underlying demand," Lau said.
The most actively traded rebar for October delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was down 0.8 percent at 3,770 yuan ($588) a ton. The construction steel product touched 3,869 yuan on Thursday, its strongest level since early December 2017.
Underlining firm consumption in China, the world's top steel consumer, rebar stocks among Chinese traders had fallen nearly 50 percent from mid-March to 5.04 million tons as of June 8, data tracked by SteelHome consultancy showed.
China's robust steel consumption and production had pushed up the country's imports of raw material iron ore by 13.5 percent from April to 94.14 million tons last month.
"This likely reflects strong profitability of Chinese steel mills," Barclays analysts said.
Stocks of iron ore at China's major ports slipped marginally to 161.03 million tons on Friday from a record 161.98 million tons the previous week, SteelHome data showed.
Spot iron ore for delivery to Qingdao port in East China's Shandong Province rose 0.9 percent to $67.44 a ton on Friday, a three-week high, according to Metal Bulletin.
On Monday, the most-traded September iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was up 0.2 percent at 468 yuan a ton.
About CHINA MINING
Since first held in 1999, the scope and influence of CHINA MINING has grown rapidly year by year. As a global mining summit forum and exhibition, CHINA MINING Congress and Expo has become one of the world’s top mining events, and one of the world’s largest mining exploration, development and trading platforms, covering all aspects of the whole mining industry chain, including geological survey, exploration and development, mining rights trading, mining investment and financing, smelting and processing, mining techniques and equipment, mining services, etc. playing an active promotion role in creating exchange opportunities and enhancing mutual cooperation between domestic and foreign mining enterprises.
CHINA MINING Congress and Expo 2018 will be held at Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin in October 18-20, 2018. We invite you to join the event and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of CHINA MINING with us. For more information about CHINA MINING 2018, please visit: www.chinaminingtj.org.
