SHANGHAI, Nov 26 (SMM) - Operating rates of blast furnaces at Chinese steelmakers increased this week, as some steel mills have resumed production from maintenance though there is still news of limited production with short duration.

An SMM survey showed that the average operating rate of BFs at steel mills in China rose 0.11 percentage point from the prior week and fell 0.3% from the previous year to 88.5% as of November 26.

Many places ushered in a wide range of rain, snow and cool weather this week. Combined with outbreaks of COVID-19 in many places in China, market sentiment weakened sharply and steel prices plummeted. Supply will gradually reverse the current situation due to the high prices in East China, which attracts the accelerated inflow of nearby resources, while the demand in the northern regions such as Northeast China, North China and Northwest China is on the verge of ending. Recently, rainy weather occurred in South China, which affected the release of demand.

The rising pandemic in many places also makes the expectation of late peak shift holiday heat up, which will further suppress the demand. Prices of long steel will be under pressure. However, as the downstream manufacturing industry of HRC continues to be hot, HRC prices continues to be higher than those of rebar, and some steel mills have turned HRC and molten iron production to rebar production, which forms an effective support for HRC prices. Prices of HRC will continue to be stronger than rebar in the near term.

Operating rates of blast furnaces at Chinese steelmakers