On July 24, there were rumors of a production curb in the Chinese city of Tangshan, requiring local smelters to suspend or reduce operations from 00:00 July 25 to 12:00 July 29, with blast furnaces cutting production by 20 percent and sintering and lime kilns cutting production by 40 percent. Steel mills indicated they had received notice, with some having already stopped production for blast furnace maintenance, while others said they would reduce output accordingly or implement blast furnace downtime, with specific plans yet to be determined.
In addition to the Tangshan notice, some steel mills voluntarily conducted maintenance work starting in early July in an effort to ease supply pressure and reduce losses.
Steel prices on the Chinese domestic market The market did not react to the news of production cuts due to limited demand for steel, which is unlikely to improve in the near future. On July 24, spot prices for Chinese rebar and heat-resistant steel decreased by 7 yuan/t and 5 yuan/t compared to the previous day, amounting to 3,180 yuan/t ($468/t) and 3,395 yuan/t ($500/t) excluding warehouse, respectively. “Demand is very slow, so production is expected to decrease. Prices should only change if iron ore and coke prices fall,” said a Chinese source.
Eunice Ouyang EditorI graduated from Shanghai University of Science and Technology and have 16 years of deep experience in the steel industry. I am responsible for steel news and intelligence and also lead the content team in China
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