Chinese steel mills faced deep production curbs in January 2022 as Beijing enforced staggered output cuts through the heating season, which ran from 15 November 2021 to 15 March 2022, to clear the air for the Winter Olympics. Mills in the '2+26' cities around Beijing and Tianjin were told to cut crude steel output by at least 30 percent from a year earlier, and on 23 January the Tangshan city government asked mills to restrict sintering and blast furnace operations further. Analysts at SteelMint estimated the curbs would remove about 28 million tonnes of crude steel output in the first quarter alone. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment told a press conference on 24 January that the measures were part of the winter air quality plan. Steel prices held firm despite the output cuts, because demand was also seasonally weak, and traders watched for a rebound once the Games ended and construction resumed in spring.
Source: SteelMint via Mysteel — https://www.mysteel.net/news/5028209-chinas-steel-sector-braces-for-winter-olympics-impact
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