[SMM Blast Furnace Operating Rate] Temporary Maintenance Increases, Hot Metal Production Edges Down

According to an SMM survey, on November 4, the operating rate of blast furnaces at 242 steel mills tracked by SMM stood at 87.06%, down 0.24 percentage points MoM. The blast furnace capacity utilization rate was 87.01%, down 0.17 percentage points MoM. The daily average hot metal production of sampled steel mills was 2.3573 million mt, down 4,800 mt MoM.

According to the SMM survey, a total of five blast furnaces underwent maintenance this week, mainly concentrated in Liaoning, Hebei, and Qinghai; six blast furnaces resumed production, mainly located in Liaoning and Hebei. Recently, affected by environmental protection inspections and temporary blast furnace maintenance, overall hot metal production has remained on a downward trend. Looking ahead to next week, blast furnaces that underwent temporary maintenance earlier are expected to resume production gradually, and overall hot metal production is expected to rebound slightly; however, environmental protection pressure persists, and some blast furnaces may still undergo temporary maintenance, so hot metal growth may fall short of expectations.