Key Facts
In July, Hebei province's steel industry continued to see a pattern of weak supply and demand. On the supply side, widespread industry losses forced steel mills to carry out concentrated maintenance on blast furnaces and rolling lines, with steel output contracting marginally and supply pressure easing temporarily. With steel mills suffering broad losses, concentrated maintenance on long-process blast furnaces and rolling lines, combined with phased environmental production restrictions in Tangshan at the end of the month, the output index fell by a relatively large margin.
Policy and Trade
On the demand side, the traditional off-season effect was evident, and policy benefits for infrastructure faced a transmission time lag, so physical demand increments could not be released in the short term and market transactions remained sluggish. High temperatures and rainy weather significantly affected outdoor construction progress, with end-users generally purchasing on a need basis and maintaining low inventories. The new orders index fell 1.2 percentage points month-on-month to 37.8%. As supply contracted faster than demand declined, the finished steel inventory index fell 2.8 percentage points month-on-month to 45.9% in July.