BEIJING—China’s steel mills may have taken a wrong turn by adding millions of tons of new high-end capacity just as the country’s car sector, a key steel consumer, undergoes its first contraction in decades, cutting metal demand.
Hot-rolled coil (HRC), steel that is heat processed into metal sheets used for car bodies and household appliances, was a steady profit driver for mills but orders are now slowing down, two major steel mills and several traders told Reuters.
