SHANGHAI, Mar 18 (SMM) - Production restrictions in north China basically come to an end this week, and the steel mills in Tangshan city actively resumed the production. According to SMM research, there are currently 20 steel mills in Tangshan, and a total of 23 blast furnaces have resumed the production, involving a daily pig iron output of 76,000 mt. In addition, steel mills in Henan, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shandong and other regions in Hebei have also partly resumed the production of blast furnaces.
SMM blast furnace operating rates averaged 81.9% as of March 16, up 4.1 percentage points from a week ago and 4.2 percentage points month-on-month.
The broad resumption of production will inevitably put great pressure on the supply side of steel, and fuel the already high raw material prices. And steel prices would gain strong support from the cost die. The market shall closely watch whether the production in north China will stop amid resurging COVID-19 pandemic.
