In June, China's steel market faced volatility due to several factors: ongoing policy expectations, seasonal effects, a significant drop in market transactions, and resilient cost support. Despite these challenges, steel production capacity increased.

Daily production data for June 2024 shows continuous growth in crude steel output for four months, pig iron for three months, and steel products for two months. The daily average production was 3.05 million tons for crude steel, 2.48 million tons for pig iron, and 4.19 million tons for steel products.

Since July, seasonal weather, insufficient end-user demand, and cost support might have weakened steel mills' production capacity release. However, the blast furnace operating rate stayed high, averaging 75% for the first two weeks of July. In early July, major steel enterprises saw daily average production of 1.93 million tons of pig iron, 2.15 million tons of crude steel, and 1.98 million tons of steel products.

As the Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is held, strong policy implementation expectations remain. However, seasonal weakness and strong production capacity release will likely limit steel markets. China's daily crude steel production was expected to fall below 3 million tons in July.