Wuhan Iron & Steel under 3-month maintenance after fire 

Shanghai base metals were mostly lower on Tuesday morning as investors awaited the release of China's trade data for June. Meanwhile, their counterparts on the LME also fell for the most part.

The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) reported that crude steel output across major mills in China averaged 2.27 million mt per day in the first ten days of April, up 2.88% from late March and up 16.86% from the same period a year ago.

Operating rates at domestic iron ore mines in October rose 0.7 percentage point from September, with operating rates at private mines 0.4 percentage point higher and 1.1 percentage points higher at state-owned mines.

China’s imports of steel products soared last month as coronavirus containment measures dealt a hefty blow to foreign demand and pulled prices overseas lower. Data published by China’s General Administration of Customs on Tuesday showed that China imported 1.14 million mt of steel products in March, up 26.3% from a year earlier. Total imports in the first three months of 2020 came in at 3.18 million mt, with a year-over-year increase of 9.7%.

SMM data showed that HRC stocks across social warehouses and steelmakers decreased 3.59% in the week ended April 9 to 5.26 million mt, marking a fourth straight week of decline and larger than a 2.2% fall in the previous week.

China’s top steelmaking hub, Tangshan in Hebei province, has issued its air pollution control plan for April, continuing to exempt steelmakers that are graded as A and B on their environmental status,

Cause of the fire remains unclear

High costs and low steel prices have pushed them to the verge of losses

The Jiangsu steelmaking giant will put its one 180-tonne converter under 20 days of maintenance in Sept

Trades thinned on Wednesday Aug 22 as demand weakened after transactions from most long-term contracts ended