Dec 13 (LTIT) –All steel mills in Xuzhou, China's second-largest steelmaking province of Jiangsu, will again face at least half a month of suspension, market talk suggested on the morning of Thursday December 13.

Just three plants resumed in November after environmental probes shut all local mills in April. Of the three, Jinhong mill stopped production on December 12, Zhongxin will close in a day or two after they meet local authorities today, and Dongnan is awaiting notice from the government, sources told SMM.

Eighteen steel plants located in Xuzhou produce some 60,000 mt of molten iron each day. This accounted for 3% of daily molten iron production in China, SMM learned.

All steel mills in Xuzhou suspended when central and local environmental probes occurred on April 9. Most mills have remained offline as only a few passed checks and resumed in July.