WEEKLY: Chinese EAF mills output slumps before CNY holiday

Steel production among Chinese electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steelmakers continued to decline rapidly during the past week, with many mills switching to holiday mode to celebrate next week's Chinese New Year (CNY), Mysteel's latest survey showed.

During February 6-12, the average capacity utilization rate among the 94 independent EAF steelmakers under Mysteel's tracking dropped for the fourth straight week by a large 27.1 percentage points on week to 21%, while their average operational rate also slumped 29.1 percentage points from the prior week to 28.3%. Around