SHANGHAI, Mar 4 (SMM) — Operating rates of blast furnaces at steel mills dropped 0.9 percentage point during the Chinese New Year holiday but up 2.1 percentage points from a year ago to 86.2% as of March 4, SMM survey showed. Tangshan introduced the March Air Pollution Comprehensive Treatment Month Plan this week. The plan proposes that seven 450m blast furnaces in multiple steel plants will be shut down before March 10. As the company gradually implements the shutdown, it is expected that operating rates of blast furnaces will continue to fall next week.

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Development and Reform Commission have repeatedly stated that they will gradually establish an inventory restriction mechanism based on carbon emissions, pollutant emissions, and total energy consumption, and reduce crude steel output through strict control of new production capacity and promotion of mergers and reorganisations to ensure that the annual crude steel output fell year on year, which is good for steel prices. On the evening of March 2, Tangshan's March production restriction policy greatly boosted market sentiment. Spot prices increased more than 100 yuan/mt. The short-term sharp increase made more traders leave the market after gaining profits, and after the prices rose to a high level, fear of high prices heated up. Two Sessions will open this week. There is also a certain degree of uncertainty in policy. Steel prices may start to fluctuate at high in the near term. The disturbances caused by the introduction of policies and the initiation of demand should be monitored.

Operating rates of blast furnaces at Chinese steelmakers