According to SMM research, the amount of maintenance at steel mills producing construction steel increased slightly this week, with molten iron production peaking. More blast furnace maintenance is expected at steel mills in the future, which will affect construction steel production. The maintenance impact on construction steel output is 1.1138 million tons, an increase of 28,700 tons from last week on a week-on-week basis.

According to the SMM survey, as of May 14, the operating rate of blast furnaces at 242 steel mills surveyed by SMM was 88.63%, down 0.33 percentage point WoW. The capacity utilisation rate of blast furnaces was 90.45%, down 0.65 percentage point WoW. The daily average pig iron production of the sampled steel mills was 2.4403 million mt, down 17,600 mt WoW.

Today, DCE iron ore futures held up well, with the most-traded contract I2509 closing at 737, up 2.43% for the day. Traders were relatively active in selling, while steel mills purchased as needed.

[SMM Steel Mill Guidance Price] Guidance prices for various stainless steel series from large domestic stainless steel mills on May 14

Today, rebar futures fluctuated and closed at 3,127, up 1.23% from the previous trading day. Spot prices in various regions rose to varying degrees, and trading conditions improved compared to yesterday.