Rate of resumption for construction works to reach 70% in mid-March 

SHANGHAI, Feb 26 (SMM) – The post-holiday recovery of building industry in China, a manpower-intensive sector that has been badly hit by the coronavirus outbreak, remained at a slow pace as of February 25. Only key projects are allowed to restart construction, while most construction sites have not obtained official approval for resumption. 

According to data from China's Ministry of Transport, the rate of resumption of work for traffic construction projects in China stood at 25.9%-38.9% as of February 25. In Jiangxi, authorities said some 37.2% of the construction projects in the province have restarted operations. 

In a SMM survey that covered 37 Chinese firms concerning house construction and infrastructure development, only five companies said some of their projects had resumed operations. Nineteen enterprises said the construction work will be able to restart in March. The operating rates will normalise no earlier than April due to slow returning of workers, according to some companies. 

SMM expects the rate of resumption of work in the construction sector to rise to 70% by mid-March. 

On the upstream front, some producers of construction steel have recovered production successively, with mills in China’s steelmaking hub Tangshan also planning to resume. 

SMM forecasts rebar prices may remain subdued until a significant increase in downstream demand trigger a price rally in the second half of March.