Steel Mills Plan to Curtail the Production amid Escalating Pandemic Control Measures?

SHANGHAI, Mar 29 (SMM) - As the pandemic has escalated again in Shanghai and surrounding areas, and the shipments to and from Wuxi city has been greatly hampered, with forced delays of deliveries. According to SMM research, a steel mill in east China said it begins equipment maintenance today, which is scheduled to last until after the Qingming Festival for the moment.

At present, the market generally agreed that the consumption, which has already been relatively sluggish before, will be further depressed by the pandemic. In addition, raw material prices have been high despite corrections. Steel mills that had insufficient stocks will face sudden increase in production pressure in light of restricted raw material supply and weak consumption owing to deteriorating pandemic situation which keeps pulling down spot prices.

As such, steel mills’ output may be affected anyhow in April. And SMM believes that stainless steel prices may fall amid expectations of weak supply and demand.