The hot rolling capacity utilization rate of the surveyed facilities also increased by 4.07 points weekly, reaching 79.13%. It was stated that the increase in production occurred as some steel producers restarted their activities after maintenance interruptions.
Chinese steel mills maintained their normal HRC delivery pace, but HRC inventories of surveyed mills fell 2.8% week on week to 790,200 tons.
On the other hand, with the approach of the Chinese New Year holiday, a decrease in demand from hot coil buyers was observed. Flat product stocks in commercial warehouses increased by 2.6% for the third consecutive week, reaching 2.29 million tons.
Last week, steel production in China increased on the back of support in raw material prices and positive economic news. Hot rolled coil prices also increased. As of January 26, the spot price of Q235 4.75 mm hot rolled coil was recorded at Yuan 4,111/ton ($572.5/ton), up 0.9% week on week. On the same day, the most traded HRC futures contract for May delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed at 4,102 Yuan/ton, with a weekly increase of 1.7%.
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