According to the China Iron and Steel Association, crude steel production of large and medium-scale steelmakers in China totaled about 10.95 million mt for the early March period, while overall national crude steel production came to around 13.78 million mt. Thus, China's daily output of crude steel in early March reached 1.378 million mt, down 40,000 mt month on month, the first month-on-month decline registered this year and an indication of the further production cuts implemented by mills in China.
China's steel production had registered a rapid rebound in December 2008. In January and February this year daily steel output exceeded 1.3 million mt and 1.4 million mt respectively. It is seen from the early March figures that market demand has failed to match the increased supply pressure after mills began to step up their production, with the mills consequently moving to cut back on their outputs again.