Operating Rates of Blast Furnaces Remained Unchanged Last Week, Capacity Utilisation Rate Dropped Slightly

According to SMM statistics, the average operating rate of blast furnaces was 95.25% last week, flat from the previous week. The capacity utilisation rate fell 0.42 percentage point to 94.05%. The daily average pig iron output of sample steel mills was 2.24 million mt, down 10,000 mt from the previous week.

Blast furnaces in east China, north China, and south-west China resumed normal production last week; at the same time, two new blast furnaces in east China and north China were shut down due to maintenance. The operating rate of blast furnaces remained stable.

This week, some blast furnaces in Shanxi plan to resume production, but considering that the end demand is poor in the off-season and steel prices continue to decline, some steel mills may postpone the production resumption of blast furnaces. The operating rates are likely to stabilise or rise slightly this week.

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