Reuters reported that Taiwan's top steel maker China Steel Corporation plans to resume operations of a key blast furnace earlier than planned due to steady global prices as inventories are digested after demand picked up.

One of China Steel's four blast furnaces that was shut in mid April for maintenance could resume its operations from late August.

The report cited a source as saying that "We have to act quickly once the market is faring well. In fact, there is room for us to raise prices."

The BF No 3 blast furnace of China Steel, which helps CSC produce a third of its annual output of 10 million tonnes, had been set to resume operations in early September previously.

(Sourced form Reuters)