Chinese steel prices edged lower on Friday, shrugging off a decline in inventories to be on track for their worst week since late March amid concerns that less rigid production curbs this winter will lead to surplus supplies. Stocks of steel products held by Chinese traders fell for a seventh straight week in the week ending on November 23, down 203,100 tonnes from the previous week at 8.41 million tonnes, according to data compiled by Mysteel consultancy. Stocks hit their lowest level since early January.
Inventory of construction product rebar dropped 3.3 percent to 3.07 million tonnes, while hot-rolled coil stocks dipped 1.9 percent to 2.1 million tonnes.
However, benchmark rebar futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dipped 0.4 percent to 3,706 yuan ($534.17) a tonne as of 0230 GMT to be down 5.2 percent so far this week, their worst performance since March, amid concerns of a glut.
"A pessimistic outlook persists in the market as investors still expect spot prices to fall further. So in the futures market, people tend to hold off their trade and watch," said analysts from Huatai Futures.
Weekly utilisation rates at steel mills across China slid 0.3 percentage points from last week to 67.54 percent as of November 23, curbed by temporary production restrictions but still up on around 63.5 percent during same period last week.
China's top steelmaking province Hebei on Wednesday issued second-level smog alerts to its 10 cities, asking steel mills to further cut output from November 22 on top of the winter production restrictions effective from mid-November until mid-March, 2019.
Unlike last winter, China has allowed cities and provinces to set their own steel output restrictions this year based on their emission levels, ditching across-the-board limits. Profit margins have dropped drastically, to below 300 yuan a tonne this week from over 800 yuan a month ago, according to an estimate by Jinrui Futures.
"Steel mills have lesser incentives to replenish their stocks for raw ingredients amid falling prices and shrinking profit margins," added Huatai Futures analysts. The most-active iron ore contract for January delivery fell 2.4 percent to 508.5 yuan a tonne. Dalian coking coal futures dropped 0.7 percent to 1,355.5 yuan a tonne, while coke prices fell 1.4 percent to 2,239.5 yuan.
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