Rebar Output Climbed amid Rising Operating Rates of EAF and BF Steel Mills

SHANGHAI, Feb 27 (SMM) – Rebar output climbed amid rising operating rates of EAF and BF steel mills. Operating rates across 34 EAF mills of construction steel in China stood at 44.32%, up 4.67 percentage points from the previous week. The average operating rate of blast furnaces stood at 92.27% last week, up 0.15 percentage point from a week ago. Although some EAF steel mills plan to resume the production this week, the output is unlikely to increase obviously judging from the tight steel scrap supply. In addition, some BF steel mills were reported to delay the resumption in light of lacklustre profits. As such, the rebar supply may remain stable this week. In terms of HRC, the impact of maintenance weakened last week and the output stabilised. In the follow-up stage, some steel mills in north China will carry out maintenance and the HRC output may drop slightly this week.