[SMM Blast Furnace Operating Rate] Individual steel mills incurred losses, and pig iron production continued to decline

According to the SMM survey, as of May 28, the operating rate of blast furnaces at 242 steel mills surveyed by SMM was 88.35%, down 0.06 percentage point WoW. The capacity utilisation rate of blast furnaces was 89.74%, down 0.34 percentage point WoW. The daily average pig iron production of the sampled steel mills was 2.4213 million mt, down 9,000 mt WoW.

During this period, there were no blast furnace maintenance activities, while 2 blast furnaces resumed production. The blast furnaces that resumed production were mainly concentrated in Jiangxi and Hebei. Recently, some steel mills have reported overall losses in profits and plan to formulate maintenance plans after the Dragon Boat Festival. Looking ahead to the next period, according to SMM's current tracking, there are plans for maintenance of 3 blast furnaces and 1 blast furnace is expected to resume production. The blast furnaces undergoing maintenance are mainly concentrated in Guizhou and Hebei. If finished steel prices continue to weaken in the future, steel mill profits will come under pressure, and temporary maintenance activities may increase. It is expected that pig iron production may fall short of expectations in the future.