Dec 11– China’s production of hot-rolled steel looks set to climb this month, as a slew of mills will recover from maintenance amid enticing profits.

An SMM survey showed that Chinese steelmakers plan to produce 9.29 million mt of hot-rolled steel in December, up 4.75% from the realised output in November.

About 405,000 mt would be exported, up 5.5% from a month earlier, and volumes slated to enter domestic markets are likely to increase 4.7% to 8.88 million mt.

There are no maintenance scheduled for major hot-rolling mills this month, compared to about 429,200 mt of production affected by maintenance works in November.

Improved producing enthusiasm also contributes to higher hot-rolled steel production, as higher spot steel prices recovered profits among steelmakers.

Prices of spot hot-rolled coil kicked off a rally since early November, as transport restrictions slowed shipments to spot markets and as Beijing’s economic stimulus measures and hopes for a preliminary US-China trade deal brightened the outlook for steel demand and improved market sentiment.