In the first seven months of the current year, China’s apparent crude steel consumption moved up by 11 percent to 449.7 million mt, while the country’s crude steel output increased by 5.1 percent to 491.5 million mt, both year on year, according to the China report from the World Steel Association (worldsteel).
In the given period, China’s semi-finished and finished steel product imports increased by 2.6 percent to 7.8 million mt and its semi-finished and finished steel exports showed a decrease of 29 percent to 48 million mt, both on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, in the first seven months of this year, China’s iron ore imports increased by 7.5 percent to 625.4 million mt, compared to the same period of 2016. In the January-July period, the country’s iron ore output amounted to 751.5 million mt, up 7.7 percent year on year.