Focus piece: China faces a COVID conundrum

摘要

China is one of the last hold-outs of the COVID-Zero policy – a no-COVID-at-any cost policy aimed at ultimately eliminating COVID-19 via vaccination. As the world’s largest steel producer and demand center, this represents a massive risk for the global steel and metallurgical coal markets: if a widespread outbreak occurs, Chinese steel production could be substantially hit. And on the other hand, regular shutdowns to avoid a disease as contagious as Omicron will have an ongoing effect on steel demand and steel production.