【Electric Furnace Steel】Small Essays Take Center Stage as Major Policies Fade Away

This week, China domestic construction steel market experienced a slight decline. Under the influence of high temperatures, overall trading was sluggish, and market confidence was low. As of July 14th, the average price of domestic rebar steel was 3,742 CNY, a decrease of 27 CNY compared to the previous week, ultra-high power graphite electrode products for electric arc furnaces, with complete specifications for selection.

In terms of raw materials, due to the firm prices of iron ore and coke, coupled with reduced supply during the summer, the price of scrap steel fluctuated initially but then rebounded this week. The average purchasing price of scrap steel (used as electric furnace feedstock) by steel mills decreased by 8 CNY to 2,548 CNY, narrowing the price difference with rebar steel. Some electric furnace steel plants in Guangxi and Guizhou resumed production this week. However, due to the slightly stronger trend of scrap steel prices compared to construction steel over the past two weeks, the losses of electric furnace steel plants continued to expand. Currently, the production time of most operating steel plants is controlled at 8-10 hours. According to statistics, the capacity utilization rate of electric furnace steel in 135 steel plants across the country was 35.08% this week, a decrease of 0.74% compared to the previous week. The output of electric furnace steel was 207,700 tons/day (national standard). The overall demand in the steel market is currently weak, with a 7.2% decrease in exports compared to June. The continuous discussions about "steel production control" and "Tangshan environmental production restrictions" in the market further highlight the market's lack of vitality.

It is expected that the steel market will continue to operate with weak fluctuations in the second half of July, and improvements may be expected after August. For electric furnace steel plants, although the summer power rationing has not officially started, steel mills have already entered a state of production restriction in advance. Therefore, there is limited room for further production decline in the later period. Moreover, from the perspective of current raw material costs, some small and medium-sized steel mills with long production processes are already facing losses, which is somewhat beneficial for electric furnace steel. For more industry reports on arc furnace steelmaking, feel free to contact us.