According to the SMM survey, as of July 23, the operating rate of blast furnaces at 242 steel mills surveyed by SMM was 86.90%, down 0.11 percentage point WoW.

The "anti-rat race" policy continues to stimulate a rebound in the commodity market.  

Today, the iron ore futures continued their strong upward trend, with the most-traded contract I2509 surging to 835.5 in the afternoon before pulling back to close at 823, marking a daily gain of 2.49%.

[Domestic iron ore brief review: Iron ore concentrate prices in Tangshan area may continue to rise] Prices of iron ore concentrates in the Tangshan region have risen slightly, with the delivery-to-factory price (dry basis, tax included) for 66% grade ore at 920-930 yuan/mt. As the external market rises, mines and beneficiation plants have shown a clear tendency to demand higher prices, and the wait-and-see sentiment is relatively evident. Currently, hot metal production from blast furnaces at steel mills remains at a high level.

According to the SMM survey, the impact of construction steel maintenance increased this week (7.19-7.25). Two steel mills had maintenance on construction steel production last week, and the impact was concentrated this week, resulting in a construction steel maintenance impact of 1.2808 million mt this week, up slightly by 12,800 mt WoW.