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Bar-mill capacity utilization among steel producers in East China’s Jiangsu, the country’s second largest steel producing province after Hebei, is seen falling by over one-third this month as more steelmakers in the province halt operations to conduct “intensive” maintenance, according to Mysteel’s latest survey. The mills are responding to government directives to tame energy consumption.
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A total of 22 Chinese steel mills have plans to hold maintenance stoppages this month from a few days to as long as 90 days as of September 2, indicating that the central government’s determination to cut steel output is steadily progressing, a new Mysteel report has found.
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In July, Japan’s crude steel output including carbon and special steel rose by 32.5% on year to about 8 million tonnes, or the fifth consecutive month with an on-year rise, though it was 1.3% lower than in June, according to the latest data released by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) on August 23.
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The COVID-19 outbreak’s impact on the Japanese economy during fiscal 2020 (April 2020-March 2021) hit every production base at all three of the country’s integrated mills, newly-released data from mills published this week show. Most apparent are the drops at those works where blast furnaces were banked when steel demand tumbled, industry watchers noted.
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China’s sizable industrial firms posted a 137% on-year gain in their gross profits over January-March, which was also up 50.2% from Q1 2019, confirming their significant improvement in their financial performance, according to the release by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on April 27.
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Chinese steelmakers have announced intensive maintenance plans recently, and though overhauls are not uncommon during the usual winter lull in business, this year the mills are offering a variety of reasons for taking some major equipment items offline, citing everything from coke shortages to bitter cold.
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The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the steel industry in North China’s Hebei province, the country’s top steel production base, reversed up in December after sliding for the prior three months, gaining 0.9 basis point on month to 51.9, according to the latest release by the Hebei Metallurgical Industry Association.
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Nippon Steel says the stoppage of a cold-rolling mill at its Nagoya Works in central Japan after last week’s fire impacted its operations less than had been expected, with most of the facilities at the mill restarted after a couple days and as of Wednesday, overall production at the mill had mostly returned to normal.
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Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated mill, has been forced to halt operations on a cold-rolling mill at its Nagoya Works in central Japan after a fire broke out on the mill early on December 7, a company official confirmed. Market observers told Mysteel Global the incident could impact automotive sheet supply, just when domestic demand is active.
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Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated steelmaker, has decided to restart another banked blast furnace, announcing on December 4 that a large unit north of Tokyo will be restarted in late January to lift hot metal supply in response to improving steel demand from auto manufacturers.
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Nippon Steel Engineering, the engineering arm of Japan’s largest steel producer, has received an order from Taiwan’s China Steel Corp to supply a large Coke Dry Quenching (CDQ) plant, NSE announced on November 26.
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Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated mill, has restarted a banked blast furnace located in the Kimitsu Area of its East Nippon Works in Chiba prefecture, near Tokyo, to respond to improving steel demand from consumers, especially auto makers.
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JFE Steel, Japan’s second largest integrated mill, will start relining the No.6 blast furnace at the Chiba area of its East Japan Works much sooner than the mill had initially scheduled, saying that by starting the work early it can start cutting production costs sooner, JFE announced on November 9.
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Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated mill, have been mulling the restart of two idled blast furnaces in the second half of fiscal 2020 (October 2020-March 2021) on noting the steady improvement in steel demand from the country’s auto sector, a Nippon Steel official confirmed on September 4.
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Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated mill, has reignited the halted blast furnace with an inner volume of 2,650 cu meters on August 20 at its Kure area of Setouchi Works in western Japan after a halt over August 14-19, and its steel production has not been affected much, a company official confirmed on August 28.
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Japan’s ferrous scrap prices for both domestic sales and exports rose another $5/t on week over July 27-31, or up for the fourth week as inquiries from the overseas customers remained active, offsetting the lull from the domestic market with many mill under the summer maintenance, traders in Tokyo and Nagoya in central Japan shared.
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China’s consumption of steel with construction steel in particular is expected to recover in August from the rainy and flooded July, partly due to the catch-up of progress at the construction sites in South and East China after the adverse weather, Mysteel predicted in its latest monthly report.
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A quick look at how China's economy and steel market performed in the first half of 2020.
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Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated mill, has suspended 30% of its molten iron capacity by having halted some of its blast furnaces as planned, according to a company official on July 22.
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Anna and Olivia will be discussing some of the key topics discussed during the 2020 SEAISI e-Conference, ASEAN's flagship steel industry conference.
