Tangshan city, China's largest steelmaking hub, has announced its output restriction policy for April.
In particular, steel mills that have been graded A and B for emissions policy compliance will be free from output restrictions in April. Mills in grade C will implement graded restrictions. For instance, there will be 20 percent, 30 percent and 50 percent production halts for sintering machines, pelletizing processes and blast furnaces depending on the different steelmakers. In March, most of the steelmakers in question had to cut utilization rates by at least 50 percent.
Meanwhile, Hebei Province-based Tianzhu Group, Tangshan New Baotai Steel, Tangshan Huaxi Steel, Rockcheck Steel and Jianlong Group will be free from output restrictions.
As regards the coking industry, the wet coke quenching process will be halted from 8 pm to 8 am.
On Monday, March 30, rebar futures at the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined by RMB 100/mt ($14.0/mt) from the previous trading day, March 27, closing at RMB 3,242/mt ($460.2/mt), while decreasing by RMB 158/mt ($22.4/mt) or 4.6 percent since March 23.