In the first quarter this year, China's Hebei Province produced a total of 52.697 million mt of crude steel, up 9.62 percent year on year, accounting for 27.5 percent of total output in China, according to data released by Metallurgical Industry Association of Hebei Province on May 2. Accordingly to data issued previously by China's National Bureau of Statistics, in the given quarter China's overall output of crude steel totaled 191.89 million mt, rising by 9.1 percent on year-on-year basis.
In March alone, output of crude steel in Hebei Province amounted to 18.0707 million mt, up 5.44 percent year on year. In particular, output of raw iron ore in the province in the given month totaled 39.4122 million mt, up 4.96 percent year on year. In the January-March period of the current year, outputs of raw iron ore, metallurgical coke and ferroalloys in Hebei Province came to 103.62 million mt, 17.1614 million mt and 96,000 mt, up 10.51 percent, 5.69 percent and 22.85 percent respectively, all on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, in April this year, the purchasing managers index (PMI) of Hebei Province's iron and steel industry was 45 percent, down 0.8 percentage points month on month.
According to the association's predictions for the second quarter this year, despite significant demand from infrastructure construction and the real estate sector, inventories at both state-owned and private sector steel mills are at high levels. In addition, it is thought that the Chinese iron and steel market will continue to suffer from oversupply.