WEEKLY: China's BF capacity use dips 3rd week to 89.49%

The blast furnace (BF) capacity utilization rate among China's 247 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel's survey had dipped for the third week over April 28-May 4, down by another 1.14 percentage points on week to 89.49%. The further decline indicated that some of these surveyed mills had reined in their steel output amid thin margins and weak downstream demand.

During the latest survey period, the hot metal output of these survey mills decreased accordingly by 30,600 tonnes/day on week to 2.4 million t/d on average, while their BF operational rate slid for the third week too by another 0.87 percentage point on week to 81.69% as of May