Since December, There was muted terminal demand and more losses of some steel mills, environmental protection-related production restrictions, annual maintenance of steel mills and crude steel production restrictions in some areas. Under this circumstance, BF steel mills undergoing maintenance increased significantly. According to SMM research and tracking, there were actually 43 BFs undergoing maintenance and 30 BFs resuming production in December.
Looking forward to January, according to SMM’s survey: There will be a plan of maintenance of 4 BFs and restart of 14 BFs in January. But a rise in operating rate of BFs and pig iron output may be lower than expectations, given lingering pressure on environmental protection-related production limits in heating season.
