Mandated production cuts in northern China to reduce air pollution are likely to offset reduced demand caused by warmer weather in the country, market sources told Fastmarkets MB this week.
While local authorities in Tangshan - China's steelmaking hub in the north - have ordered steelmakers to cut output to improve air quality, a move that typically supports prices, output is not expected to fall by a great deal in May.The operating rates of blast furnaces and converters are to be lowered by 20-50% this month while re-rolling mills are to halve their production. But because several mills have already been operating at reduced rates since the fourth quarter of last year, coinciding with the winter heating season, only a limited number of blast furnaces that had not been idled previously are being taken out of...