WEEKLY: China's BF mills production rises to 5-mth high

Production among Chinese blast furnace (BF) steelmakers increased for the third straight week during March 27-April 2, as mills further lifted their operating activity to meet rising downstream demand in the traditional peak season for steel consumption in China, Mysteel's survey showed.

During the latest survey period, the average capacity utilization rate among the 247 BF steel producers under Mysteel's tracking went up quickly by 2.4 percentage points on week to reach 89%, the highest since the end of last October, while their combined hot metal production also increased 2.7% from