Hebei, China’s top steel producing province in North China and now the new epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, has been acting swiftly by curtailing the mobility of the citizens in three of its cities – Shijianzhuang, Xingtai and Langfang, and the local authorities have been fast in blanket swaps tests on the citizens, trying to bring down the number of the new daily cases.
The latest battle in Hebei has already shown its impact on its pillar industry – the steel sector – mainly about the steel trading and transportation of related cargoes, though steel production has been operating as per normal.
The surge in COVID-19 cases in China has also clouded the domestic steel market, and renewed the concern on the country’s economic and industrial activities.
Three Hebei cities locked on rising COVID-19 cases
On January 12, Langfang city, located in the middle of Hebei, had been the latest that was ordered to lock the city, requesting all the citizens to stay at home for seven days for quarantines and the city immediately kicked off the citywide COVID-19 tests among all the citizen, which was triggered by a new confirmed pandemic case on January 11.
“We have been notified to queue up at nearby test stations to get it done within 24 hours, and this did send a bit of panic to the citizens, as people have been dashing to the supermarkets to stock up groceries,” a citizen from Langfang shared.
“People are allowed to come in but not to go out, we feel like in a situation similar with Wuhan, with all the activities stopped,” a second Langfang citizen grumbled.
On January 11 alone, Hebei reported 40 new COVID-19 cases with 39 in Shijiangzhuang and one in Langfang, which made new cases in Hebei amounted to 305, according to the latest report of the provincial health commission.
And all the three cities in Hebei have been labelled as “high or medium risks”, and accordingly, all the public transportation across the provinces and cities inside Hebei including flights and highways has been suspended.
No trucking but rails still work for Hebei steel mills
The latest development in Hebei has banned all the trucking though rail still works, enabling the steel mills in the country’s top steelmaking province to haul steelmaking raw materials to their works, but temperature checks among employees and daily reporting to the healthcare authorities have become a new routine, Mysteel Global understands from the market.
“Our raw materials transportation including iron ore via trucks has been totally stopped, and rail is the only way now, though we have been able to maintain normal production so far,” an iron ore procurement official from a Shijiazhuang-based steel mill confirmed, adding that all the employees have been asked to work from home unless those that have to be at the works.
An official from a major mill in Hebei shared a similar situation, adding, though, “our finished steel, usually moved on trucks, has been piling up at our own yards as roads have been blocked, and we have to wait until the ban is over to deliver to our customers.”
The mill is getting ready for the second round of COVID-19 tests among its employees, which will be done either at the community clinics or company’s clinics, according to her.
