SHANGHAI, Feb 11 (SMM) —Operating rates of blast furnaces at Chinese steel makers stood at 86% on February 11 before the Chinese New Year long holidays according to SMM survey, a decrease of 0.3% from last week and an increase of 2.1% from the same period last year. 

Steel mills have closed for CNY while Tangshan has re-launched a level 3 emergency response to severely polluted weather. The maintenance and production reduction of steel mills continued to increase compared with last week, while operating rates continued to decline.

The Covid-19 situation in China is under well control, and the market is expected to resume work ahead of schedule after CNY. Athe same time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is also more determined to reduce crude steel production. Despite the few transactions in the spot market, the steel market still saw a strong wave of rally. T

Due to the high prices of winter restocking, reserves of steel mills have increased this year, which leads to firmer steel prices. It is expected that with profits remaining low at steelmakers, there is room for improvement for steel prices. Steel prices are expected to rise after the CNY holiday, on the assumption of stable macro fundamentals overseas during the week of CNY.

*SMM will provide an update on the ferrous metals inventory on February 19.