Operating rates of blast furnaces rose slightly on week

SHANGHAI, August 20 (SMM) – Operating rates of blast furnaces at Chinese steelmakers rose slightly this week, as some steelmakers returned to normal production from routine maintenance.

An SMM survey showed that the BF operating rates averaged 90.2% in the third week of August, gaining 0.3 percentage point from the prior week.  

The financial market increased after the People’s Bank of China injected a total of 700 billion yuan into the market via medium-term lending facility (MLF), but the US canceling the trade and economic negotiations with China cooled the market.

Recently, Sichuan and Chongqing have issued level I emergency response to the floods, which curbed local demand for steel products, while some steelmakers recovering from maintenance ramped up supply pressure. Steel prices are expected to fluctuate widely in the short term.  

Operating rates of blast furnaces at Chinese steelmakers

A steelmaker in east China completed maintenance of blast furnaces and restarted production this week, while another mill in northeast China is under maintenance which is expected to last for about one month.