Construction work freezes in China due to epidemic prevention.

In February, construction operations in China halted when the government prolonged the lunar New Year break and urged residents to remain indoors for a coronavirus epidemic preventive. The flu-like disease began from central Wuhan has killed 3,158 people and affected over 80,000 in mainland China.

Japan’s Komatsu report, one of the most significant manufacturers of earth-move equipment in the world, showed that their machinery was used in China almost 30% less to 32 hours last month, compared with one year earlier. In January, that is 59.1 hours, and in February of last year 44.9 hours.

Millions of construction workers in China returned to their hometowns for a traditional week-long celebration of the Lunar New Year, which started in late January.

Nevertheless, the government prolonged the holiday for a further two weeks to deter the virus spread. Projects on properties and infrastructure, like the second phase of the pipeline project China-Russia, are halted till late February.

The Manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) of Caixin/Markit reported the most rapid contraction in factory production, which decreased dramatically from 51.1 in January to 40.3 in February.

Construction steel rebar inventory with Chinese dealers tapped a record high of 12.23 million tonnes on Friday, up almost 20% year on the year, as seen by Mysteel’s consultation results.

Approximately 13.71%, up 5.13% per week, were the average rate of utilization of cement producers across China last week. Nevertheless, cement factories were largely shut down in Northern China, as resumption was still sluggish at construction sites.

As new diseases have fallen, China is trying to get employees back to their workplaces by providing funds and authorizing new development schemes and making it easier for companies to continue operations.

24 regions had reduced their response to the epidemic by Wednesday. At the beginning of April, the Ministry of Transportation expects all migrant workers to return.