WEEKLY: Chinese EAF mills' output retreats, margins narrow

After rising for three weeks straight, steel production among China's electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steelmakers retreated during the past week as more mini-mills halted operations to conduct maintenance, Mysteel's latest survey showed.

During January 16-22, the average capacity utilization rate among the 94 independent EAF steelmakers under Mysteel's tracking dipped 0.1 percentage point on week to 57.9%, while their operational rate dropped 0.3 percentage points from the prior week to 72.7%. A few arc furnaces in South China's Guandong province were taken