With environmental protection-related production restrictions and annual maintenance, the operating rate of BF steel mills dropped, while that of EFs stabilized with the end of rapid production hike

The operating rate of BF steel mills was down 1.03% WoW at 89.6% as of December 6, SMM survey showed. Looking at this week, with environmental protection-related production restrictions and scheduled annual maintenance of some BFs, it is expected that the operating rate of BF and pig iron output may continue to dip.

According to SMM survey of 34 EF steel mills that mainly produce construction steel, their operating rates averaged 55.09% as of December 5, up 0.35 percentage points WoW. Recently, finished product prices softened. Demand declined. Therefore, EF steel mills will have low incentive to produce goods in a short run. SMM predicted that the operating rate of EF steel mills may be stable this week.