WEEKLY: China BF mills' output retreats, profits shrink further

After a brief rebound from a six-week drop in the previous week, production among Chinese blast furnace (BF) steel producers pulled back again during November 14-20, with some mills starting maintenance works amid squeezed steel margins, Mysteel's survey showed.

During the latest survey period, the average capacity utilization rate among the 247 BF steelmakers nationwide under Mysteel's regular tracking retreated 0.2 percentage point on week to 88.6%, with their combined output of hot metal falling 0.3% from the prior week to 2.36 million tonnes/day. During the same period, the