Chinese crude steel output rates fell 4.6% from June to July according to official figures released on 13 August. However, the news did little to support sentiment on the steel markets, Kallanish understands, and futures prices in Shanghai remained weak.

The January 2015 rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slid Yuan 17/tonne to Yuan 3,044/tonne ($495/t) while the October 2014 hot rolled coil contract on the same exchange dipped Yuan 2/t to Yuan 3,310/t.

China’s daily production rate fell to 2.2 million tonnes/day in July from a record high of 2.31m t/d in June. Output remained up 1.5% year-on-year. Over January-July China produced 480.8 million tonnes of steel, up 2.7% year-on-year

The combination of growing oversupply in China and the economic recovery in developed economies, China has been able to offload much of its increased production abroad. Over January-July exports were up 37% year-on-year to 49.1mt, with exports back over 8mt in July after a slight dip in June.

There had been no deals on the GlobalORE iron ore trading platform on Wednesday as of 5 pm Beijing time.