Steel rebar futures traded around CNY 3,105 per ton, hovering close to two-week lows as profitability across China’s steel industry continued to deteriorate. Industry data showed that only around 30% of steelmakers were profitable as of September 4, down from 32.5% a week earlier and 61% during the same period last year. Meanwhile, China’s blast furnace utilization rate declined 0.48 percentage point week-on-week to 89.08%, while average daily pig iron production fell by 5,200 mt to 2.4028 million mt. Despite the weak fundamentals, investors expect steel consumption to improve on seasonal demand amid the peak construction period in September. In other news, China Mineral Resources Group, the country’s state-owned iron ore importer, has reportedly instructed several steel mills to avoid purchasing Rio Tinto Group’s Pilbara Blend ore.