Maintenance at Anyang Steel to affect molten iron output till mid-Jul

China's automobile production and sales were 2.04 million units and 2.13 million units, down 8.7% and 5.5% month on month respectively, and falling 6.8% and 3.1% year on year.

A water inrush accident occurred at the Dahongcai iron ore mine in Daixian County, Shanxi Province on June 10, leaving 13 people trapped, according to preliminary estimate.

Operating rates of blast furnaces at steel mills fell 1.2 percentage points from a week ago and decreased 0.9 percentage point from a month ago to 85.7% as of May 27, SMM survey showed.

According to the SMM survey that covers 102 blast furnace steel mills, 42.2% of them are undertaking maintenance or have trimmed output (excluding mills that reduced output by adjusting rates of equipment utilisation and raw material ratios), down from a ratio of 50% last week, as some long steel mills have recovered production from maintenance.

This round of production curtailments is the most stringent since the winter

The DCE 1909 contract hit a five-year high of 904.5 yuan/mt

The most-active SHFE Aug zinc contract is expected to consolidate around 20,000 yuan/mt in the near term

Downstream consumers continued to hold from purchasing amid a bearish outlook on prices

Progress in US-China trade negotiation is likely to offer some support

Spot prices of rare earth products eased in the week to Jun 28 as market participants were cautious ahead of the G-20 summit