Many smaller mills shut down in Hubei

Many smaller mills shut down in Hubei 发布时间:08-10-29    阅读次数:   

Hit by slumping demand from the steel market, Wu Junyuan, chairman of Wucheng Steel, had no choice but declare a complete suspension of its 20-year-old steelwork on October 22. As of the same day, the mill has had an inventory of 28,000 tons, equal to tens of million yuan in profit. In September, there was an average loss of 2,000 yuan to sell one ton of steel. Wucheng Steel is not an exception in Hubei. Most of the 10-odd small-sized steelworks each with a capacity ranging from hundreds of thousand tons to less than one million tons in the province have shut down, with one or two still running but at a low rate of less than 20 percent. Echeng Steel, a middle-sized mill affiliated with Wisco, also will find it difficult to reverse a money-losing position if the market continues a weak trend. The mill has had some 100,000 tons in stock to date.