Amid the doom and gloom on steel prices - at least for producers, you won't hear consumers complaining - a couple of Reuters reports suggest some of the relentless pressure on prices may ease early next year.

Demand in top consumer China remains surprisingly robust, yet inventories are falling - suggesting producers are struggling to keep up with demand.

If that were not enough, Reuters reported new starts are being more vigorously investigated and the approval process reviewed, leading the industry to think supply will be curbed further during the winter heating period this year.

A notice jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the National Bureau of Statistics urges local governments and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) to verify the steel firms' capacity, production and fixed-asset investments.

Both legal and so-called "illegal" capacity is coming under scrutiny, as some mills achieved capacity utilization rates of 150% in 2019 - raising questions about the accuracy of the original capacity estimation.