【Mysteel Data】Survey on Production Status of 

Independent Electric Arc Furnace Steel Mills in China

1. Average Operating Rate of 87 Independent Electric Arc Furnace Steel Mills in China: 70.70%, up by 1.88 percentage points compared to the previous period, down by 6.01 percentage points year-on-year. Significant increases were observed in the Northeast and North China regions, with slight increases in the East, Central, and South China regions, and minor decreases in the Southwest region, while other regions remained stable. Specifications of graphite electrodes for short process electric furnace steelmaking.

2. Average Capacity Utilization Rate of 87 Independent Electric Arc Furnace Steel Mills in China: 51.88%, up by 0.28 percentage points compared to the previous period, down by 15.52 percentage points year-on-year. Significant increases were observed in the Northeast region, with minor increases in North, South, East, Central, and Northwest China regions, and minor decreases in the Southwest region, while other regions remained stable.

3. Daily Average Crude Steel Production of 87 Independent Electric Arc Furnace Steel Mills in China: Increased by 0.55% compared to the previous period.

4. Weekly Production Volume of Rebar and Wire Rod in 76 Independent Electric Arc Furnace Steel Mills in the Construction Materials Sector: Rebar production decreased by 1.11%, while wire rod production increased by 3.61%.

5. Profit Situation of 76 Independent Electric Arc Furnace Steel Mills in the Construction Materials Sector: 10.53% of steel mills were slightly profitable, 63.16% remained stable (some due to halted production), and 26.32% incurred losses.

This week, the national operating rate and capacity utilization rate of independent electric arc furnaces saw a slight increase. Prices of finished products rebounded slightly driven by futures, while raw material scrap steel prices remained weak as steel mill arrivals increased. Therefore, immediate profit margins for electric arc furnace steel mills maintaining the valley-electric production are at a slight profit level. In response, some steel mills in regions such as the Southwest and East China chose to increase operating hours, mostly concentrated around 1-3 hours. However, considering factors such as inventory costs, most steel mills are in a loss-making state. Consequently, some steel mills chose to reduce operating hours or gradually lower saturation.

Details of steel mills that stopped production this week are as follows: a steel mill with an 80T electric furnace in the Henan region of Central China stopped production on the 19th, affecting a daily output of approximately 0.1 million tons, and is expected to resume production in early April; a steel mill with a 100T electric furnace in the Sichuan region of Southwest China stopped production due to equipment failure on the 14th. Meanwhile, a batch of steel mills resumed production as planned, including: a steel mill with a 52T electric arc furnace in the Liaoning region of Northeast China resumed production on the 14th, currently operating at the valley-electric production, with a daily output of around 0.1 million tons; a steel mill with a 70T electric arc furnace in the Hubei region of Central China resumed production on the 14th, with a daily output of around 0.11 million tons.

Next week, a steel mill in the Guangxi region of South China plans to resume production on the 25th, while steel mills in the Southwest region postponed production resumption due to ultra-low emission transformation and will resume production on April 1st. Currently, finished product inventories of electric arc furnace steel mills are relatively high, and demand has not shown a significant recovery alongside prices. Overall shipment volume is moderate, resulting in significant inventory losses. This will be an important consideration for electric arc furnace steel mills, whether to increase production based on immediate profits or decrease production based on inventory profits. Based on this week's situation, both scenarios are equally common. It is expected that next week, the operating rate and capacity utilization rate of independent electric arc furnace mills will see a slight increase. Contact us for more information on the aftermarket of electric arc furnaces.