China Steel Corporation said that it will restart its No 1 furnace next week after it was shut for maintenance in January 2010, increasing supply of the metal.

Mr Chung le min EVP at CSC said that the resumption by June 9th 2010 or June 10th 2010 won't lead to an oversupply of steel in the market. The furnace has 1.9 million tonnes of annual capacity.

It may be noted that CSC is resuming production amid concerns that demand in neighboring China is slowing because of government measures to curb speculation in the property market. Including its Dragon Steel Corporation unit, the Kaohsiung based company has five furnaces with a combined capacity of 12.5 million tonnes.

(Sourced from www.bloomberg.net)