MYSTEEL: China's hot metal output falls sharply in August

Daily hot metal production among the 247 Chinese blast-furnace (BF) steelmakers sampled in Mysteel's regular survey averaged 2.26 million tonnes/day during August 1-29, down by 5.3% compared with the daily average of 2.39 million t/d in July, according to Mysteel's latest monthly report on BF operations. When compared with August last year, the daily average saw a larger decline of 7.9%.

This year's weak August for hot metal production in China resulted from extensive maintenance stoppages of BFs at domestic steelmakers, with as many as 43 BFs taken offline during the month while only 15 were brought back online, the report pointed out. "To avoid losing more money, mills had no