Posted on 31 Mar 2022
The disruptions to road freight services that steelmakers in Tangshan, China's top steel producing city, have endured for the past week are finally easing, freeing local steel mills from having to scale back production further due to shortages of raw materials, local sources reported on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"Most mills have applied for – and received – transportation passes from the authorities, allowing trucks to pass through the traffic control roadblocks," an official from a local steel mill commented. "So, deliveries of raw materials into steel works and the dispatch of finished steel out are gradually resuming," he said.
Earlier this month, a resurgence in numbers of people testing positive for COVID-19 in many regions across China prompted local authorities in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province, a city of 7.6 million, to implement a range of preventative measures to limit the city's exposure. From March 18, these included rigorous testing of truck drivers entering the city, as well as bans on trucks bearing number plates from provinces with rising case numbers – measures which severely impacted deliveries of raw materials to mills, as reported.
Now however, signs are emerging that the outbreak in the city has peaked, with official data showing that for two consecutive days as of March 29, Tangshan reported no new confirmed cases. "The hope is that the virus may be brought under control soon," the steel mill official commented.
From March 29, some of the curbs on businesses in response to COVID-19 were eased in four districts and counties in Tangshan city, including allowing "orderly" transportation within those districts and counties, and permitting the reopening of restaurants and shops (though still with customer numbers restricted to half capacity).
Transportation for Tangshan steel re-rollers has been recovering too. "This is the first day that we have restarted delivering our products," a steel re-roller in the city told Mysteel Global on Wednesday.
"We are not so sure what problems we are going to face, but at least now we can start to try," he said. His company sells most of its re-rolled products – chiefly sections and strips – to other parts of China outside Tangshan.
Most market sources interviewed agreed that the easing of road transport curbs should allow local steel producers to reinforce their raw materials inventories, removing the need to further reduce operations, though just how much of a help this affords them is still limited at the moment, some said.
"The regulations still limit one (vehicle) pass for one truck, and not all the trucks (of the steel mills) have got the pass," explained a steel analyst close to local mills.
"Our deliveries of iron ore via trucks are still slow for now, as some sections of roads to our plant are still strictly controlled," remarked one mill official. "But nonetheless, we are trying our best to maintain production," she emphasized.
Source:Mysteel Global
