【SMM Flash News】 According to foreign media reports, Hoa Phat Group and Germany's SMS Group (SMS) signed a contract for the supply of technology and production lines for the annual production of 700,000 mt of rail and section steel. The production line is a crucial component of Hoa Phat's rail and section steel mill project located in Quang Ngai Province. The construction period for the production line is expected to be 20 months, with the first batch of products to be produced in Q1 2027. The output products will include special steels such as urban rail steel, bridge crane steel, high-speed rail steel, as well as shaped steels (U, I, H, V) and special steels. These products will serve key national railway projects and be exported to the international market.

[Hebei Xinda Achieves Successful First Trial Rolling of 20-Profile Products Using 350mm Section Billets] Recently, the Section Steel Production Line of the Rolling Mill of Hebei Xinda Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. successfully conducted the first trial rolling of 20-profile products using 350mm section billets, with all quality indicators meeting the advanced industry standards. Through systematic process optimization of the roughing and finishing pass designs, the company innovatively achieved compatibility of a single set of cogging rolls with two types of section billets, 350mm and 230mm, enabling the efficient rolling of two profile products, 22-profile and 20-profile, simultaneously.

[SMM Analysis: Section Steel Mills Stockpile Raw Materials Opportunistically During the Week, Actual Production Unlikely to Improve in the Short Term]

[SMM Analysis: Section Steel Mills Stockpile Raw Materials Opportunistically During the Week, Actual Production Unlikely to Improve in the Short Term]

Last week, the average operating rate of galvanising enterprises fell 4.01 percentage points from last week to 65.38%. Raw material inventory declined due to high zinc prices and the typhoon, affecting transportation. In terms of galvanised pipes, a combination of lower ferrous metals prices as well as transportation and production issues caused by the typhoon hampered sales, lowering operating rates and growing finished product inventory.