CSLPC: China's Nov steel PMI rebounds to 48.2

The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for China's steel industry scored 48.2 in November, reversing up by 2.6 percentage points on month and hitting the highest since August this year, according to the latest release from the country's official index compiler CFLP Steel Logistics Professional Committee (CSLPC) on November 30.

In November, the domestic steel sector witnessed stable operations with demand recovering moderately, production growing, and prices of raw materials and finished steel both moving up, CSLPC said.

Specifically, the sub-index of new steel orders has risen for the third straight month in November, hiking by 4.7 percentage points on month to 49.7, showing that though the steel industry started to enter its off-season this month, market demand still picked up modestly from the previous month on the support of several positive factors, according to CSLPC.

For example, China's infrastructure projects gained momentum as the country issued an additional special treasury bonds worth Yuan 1 trillion ($140.5 billion), the work on ensuring timely property delivery strengthened with policy support, and major steel-consuming sectors such as automobiles and shipbuilding maintained steady operations, all of which led to the recovery in steel demand this month, the committee elaborated.

The sub-index of Chinese domestic steel production took a pause from the three-month decline and climbed 4.6 percentage points on month to reach 48 in November, as steelmakers' production enthusiasm increased with better demand from downstream sectors and the relatively relaxed production control policy for the winter heating season, CSLPC noted.

Meanwhile, the sub-index of steel mills' raw material procurement prices bounced back substantially by 17.7 percentage points on month to 77, indicating production costs among steel mills moved up quickly as the iron ore prices performed strongly and the prices of other steelmaking materials such as coke and steel scrap also stayed on the upswing, the committee explained.

Looking ahead to December, as colder weather sweeps across the country, shrinking steel demand, together with authorities' tighter oversight of the iron ore market, will see the prices of steelmaking raw materials fluctuate downward and steel prices retreat from recent high levels, and steel mills' production is expected to decline further, the committee estimated.

The above content is excerpted from：https://m.mysteel.net/news/ferrous/5045272-cslpc-chinas-nov-steel-pmi-rebounds-to-482