Operating rate of steel mill BFs inched up as losses eased, nearly 60% of EF steel mills plan to halt production in late January

The operating rate of BF steel mills was 88.4% last week, up 0.29 percentage points WoW, SMM survey showed. As a rally in iron ore price came at a larger magnitude than steel price uptick last week, so there will be a lower-than-expected rise in the operating rate of BFs and pig iron output in the future.
According to SMM survey of 50 EF steel mills that mainly produce construction steel, their operating rates averaged 53.6%, as of January 23 Looking forward, according to SMM survey results, nearly 60% of EF steel mills planned to halt production in late January. It is expected that the operating rate of EF steel mills will show a significant decline this week.