Posted on 12 Feb 2026

The losses of China's blast-furnace (BF) steel mills on finished steel sales eased in January, mainly thanks to the further decline in their production costs and the relatively firm prices of finished steel, according to Mysteel's latest monthly survey.

Last month, the average loss on rebar sales among the sampled steelmakers registered Yuan 15/tonne ($2.2/t), much lower than last December's average loss of Yuan 80/t, while their average loss on sales of hot-rolled coil (HRC) also narrowed from Yuan 98/t to Yuan 9/t.

Similarly, domestic BF steel producers reported an average loss of Yuan 20/t on sales of medium plate in January, representing a reduction of Yuan 75/t compared to the prior month, the survey results showed.

Chinese BF mills' margins on finished steel sales (Unit: Yuan/t)

Products

Jan

Dec

MoM

Rebar

-15

-80

65

HRC

-9

-98

89

Medium plate

-20

-95

75

Source: Mysteel

During January, the average production cost for making rebar among the sampled BF steelmakers registered Yuan 3,079/t including the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 78/t on month, and those for making HRC and medium plate fell by Yuan 79/t and Yuan 75/t respectively on month to reach Yuan 3,237/t and Yuan 3,275/t including the VAT, according to the survey.

Prices of major steelmaking raw materials diverged in January, with that of Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines iron ore index up $1/dmt on month to $106/dmt CFR Qingdao, while the average price of second-grade metallurgical coke in North China was reported at Yuan 1,384/t with an on-month fall of Yuan 104/t, the findings showed.

Meanwhile, the overall firmness in China's finished steel prices last month also contributed to the improved profitability of domestic BF steelmakers.

For example, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar averaged Yuan 3,328/t including the 13% VAT in January, rising by Yuan 13/t from the average for the prior month, and the national average price of Q235 4.75mm HRC stayed at Yuan 3,302/t including the 13% VAT, the same level as the previous month, according to Mysteel's assessment.

However, domestic steel demand from end-users remained weak in the past month due to low temperatures across most of China, which hampered outdoor construction activities, resulting in the accumulations in steel inventories held by both Chinese steel mills and traders, Mysteel Global noted.

Mysteel's other survey showed that in January, the combined daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses nationwide under its tracking reached 83,721 tonnes/day on average, sliding by 14,148 t/d or 14.5% on month.

By the end of January, total inventories of the five major steel items comprising rebar, wire rod, HRC, cold-rolled coil (CRC) and medium plate held by the Chinese steel mills monitored by Mysteel came in at 3.88 million tonnes, rising by 1.7% on month, and the volume at traders' warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities under Mysteel's tracking registered 15.08 million tonnes, higher by 5.7% from one month earlier.

Source:Mysteel Global

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