[SMM survey] in October, the domestic mine opening rate reached the highest level since the beginning of the year (sub-region).

According to the SMM survey, the domestic mine opening rate rose slightly by 0.5 per cent to 50.2 per cent in October from September. Among them, the operating rate of private mines increased by 0.5%, and that of state-owned mines increased by 0.7%.

On the one hand, the high price of imported pellets, the shortage of imported fine powder resources, superimposed the last wave of winter storage in northern steel mills, domestic fine powder prices continue to rise, the mine has been boosted by this increase in production. On the other hand, there are mines in Liaoning Province to resume production, and the output of mines partially overhauled in September increased after the end of October, which led to the overall increase in the domestic mine start-up rate in October to the highest level since the beginning of the year.

SMM expects the domestic mine opening rate to drop slightly in November, mainly due to two reasons: first, when it enters the heating season, mines in Hebei may stop production at any time according to air quality. Mines in Beijing will stop production on November 15 and resume production on March 10, 2019. Second, as the northern region enters the winter dry season, it is difficult to continue to increase the yield.

Details of the domestic mine opening rate in October are as follows:

Hebei area

In October, the mine opening rate in Hebei rose 0.4 percent from a month earlier. Among them, the operating rate of private mines increased by 0.4%, and that of state-owned mines increased by 0.3%.

This month, mines in Zunhua area of Hebei Province resumed production capacity of about 40 to 50 percent from October 5, and daily production increased by about 30,000 tons in October. However, due to the recent poor air quality in Tangshan area, the mine concentrator in Qian'an area stopped production from October 31 to November 5, resulting in a decrease in the opening rate. The mine operation rate in Chengde area and Hanxing area is basically stable.

In November, the local mine said that the change in the operating rate will mainly depend on the local air quality, as soon as the air quality gets worse, Hebei mines need to stop production immediately.

Liaoning area

In October, the mine opening rate in Liaoning increased by 2.3% compared with the previous month. Among them, the operating rate of private mines increased by 2.7%, and that of state-owned mines increased by 1.9%.

Some of the mines in Benxi area of Liaoning Province began to resume production at the end of September, and under the stimulation of the high price of fine powder in this subway, the capacity utilization rate of some mines increased in October, resulting in a significant increase in the opening rate of private mines. According to the SMM survey, a local mine with an annual output of 1 million tons produced a total of 95000 tons in October, with a capacity utilization rate of 114 per cent.

In November, as the weather turned cold, the north gradually entered a dry season, and the operating rate of some mines decreased slightly. In addition, due to the freezing of some mines' fine powder, steel mills did not purchase it, or it may lead to the weak supply and demand of fine powder in this area in the later period. The mine opening rate may weaken slightly in November.

Shandong area

In October, the mine opening rate in Shandong increased by 0.2% compared with the previous month. Among them, the operating rate of private mines increased by 0.6%, and that of state-owned mines decreased by 0.4%.

The decline in the opening rate of state-owned mines this month was mainly due to the fact that some state-owned mines chose to suspend production or overhaul for 3 to 4 days during the National Day holiday, resulting in a month-on-month decline in iron concentrate production in Shandong Province in October. Due to the slight increase in the opening rate of mines in southern Shandong, the opening rate of private mines increased slightly this month compared with the previous month. According to SMM research, driven by rising prices and increased demand for steel mills, mines in southern Shandong have commissioned concentrators to process refined powder, and the output of refined powder has increased from an average of 1000 tons per day to 2000 tons, and the operating rate has increased significantly.

Inner Mongolia region

In October, the mine opening rate in Inner Mongolia decreased by 0.9% compared with the previous month. Among them, the operating rate of private mines decreased by 1.5% compared with the previous month, and that of state-owned mines was the same.

With the weather getting colder, the local small-scale private mines without heaters chose to close the concentrators in October, and the state-owned mines basically maintained their ability to survive in cold weather. In addition, due to the continuous rise of the pelletizing premium, a local pelletizing factory which stopped production for 5-6 years ignited production on October 28, and the demand for local fine powder increased, but due to the serious shortage of local pelletizing fine powder, individual pelletizing factories transferred to Dexian County, Shanxi Province to purchase pelletizing powder.

Anhui area

In October, the mine opening rate in Anhui increased by 0.1% compared with the previous month. Among them, the operating rate of private mines will increase by 0.6%, and that of state-owned mines will be 0.2%.

This month, a large private mine in Lujiang area ended its maintenance and production, superimposed the current high price of fine powder, and most of the local private mines have the phenomenon of increasing production. At present, a large state-owned mine has been shut down and overhauled due to technical transformation this month, resulting in a slight decline in the opening rate of state-owned mines. In addition, due to the environmental protection inspection team stationed in Anhui at the end of the month, some mines have a short-term shutdown of production and maintenance, but the basic short-term will resume normal production, the overall impact is not significant.

Shanxi area

In October, the mine opening rate in Shanxi increased by 0.6% compared with the previous month. Among them, the operating rate of private mines remained stable compared with the previous month, and the operating rate of state-owned mines increased by 1.4% compared with the previous month.

This month, after the replacement of pipelines in a state-owned mine in the region, normal production returned to normal, with production increasing by 110000 tons compared with the previous month. However, as another state-owned mine was shut down for five days due to maintenance, production fell by 33000 tons, an overall increase lower than expected. SMM expects that the opening rate of local private mines may increase slightly in November, mainly because a certain concentrator has carried out a series of optimization projects, such as closing the original mine, fine mining, hardening roads, and rectifying and greening the plant, and so on, since June. And submitted an acceptance report to the government in early November, the plant said it was expected to resume production.

Southwest China

In October, the mine opening rate in southwest China decreased by 0.3% compared with the previous month. Among them, the opening rate of private mines decreased by 0.5%, and that of state-owned mines was basically the same.

Due to the environmental protection group moved to Panzhihua area in October, some non-compliant small mine production was affected, construction fell slightly. Superimposed on the maintenance of a large state-owned mine in southwest China, the operating rate decreased as a whole.