Operating rates of blast furnaces inch up in Feb

SHANGHAI, Mar 12 (SMM) – Operating rates across blast furnaces in steel mills in China climbed 0.59 percentage point from January, to 88% last month, SMM assessed after surveying 110 domestic steelmakers. 

Despite the impact of CNY factor, eased environmental restrictions in February grew operating rates. 

For March, frequent environmental curbs and smog alerts are likely to lower the rate by 1.6 percentage points on the month, to 86.59%, SMM expects. 

Seasonality factors would drive more mills to undertake maintenance from mid-March, and this may also drag on the operating rate of blast furnaces. 

The cities of Tangshan and Wuan in Hebei province extended controls on steel production to improve air quality. Restrictions were scheduled for March 1-31. 

Jiangsu province issued a smog alert for heavy air pollution on Wednesday March 6. Qinhuangdao of Hebei also issued the most-severe red alert for smog on Friday March 8, which required local steel plants to cut capacity of sintering machines, shaft furnaces, and blast furnaces by 30%.