A recent resurgence of Covid-19 infections in Beijing led to some jitters in China's steel sector in the initial stages of the outbreak, but market participants do not expect this second wave to leave much of an impact on the industry.
The Chinese capital has registered more than 230 new Covid-19 cases since June 11 after a spate of infections traced to the Xinfadi wholesale food center in the southwestern part of the city broke out.
Two weeks later, the impact of the resurgence on the Chinese steel market appears to be limited despite a partial lockdown imposed on the city of 22 million people.
That Beijing does not have any major steel works has been a contributing factor to this - steel consumers in the city get their supply from neighboring provinces such as Hebei.
Another factor is that the drop in demand from the capital has not been steep enough to affect its suppliers, market participants told Fastmarkets.
Across China, steel demand has remained robust in recent months.
Since March, demand for steel products has been on the rise after the...