In the January-April period of the current year, China’s crude steel output amounted to 72.78 million mt, up 4.9 percent year on year, as announced by China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on May 31. The growth rate in question was 4.4 percentage points higher than that recorded in the same period last year.
In the January-April period of the current year, China’s overall outputs of metallurgical coke and ferroalloys amounted to 145.51 million mt and 11.21 million mt, up 5.1 percent and 2.8 percent year on year respectively. Meanwhile, in the given period China’s finished steel imports and exports totaled 4.56 million mt and 27.21 million mt, up 7.8 percent and down 25.8 percent on year-on-year basis, respectively.
As also indicated by the NDRC, in April this year China's average composite steel price index issued by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) was at 95.48 points, down 9.86 points month on month and rising by 17.06 points year on year. In particular, in April of the current year the average prices of 6.5 mm high-speed wire rod, 20 mm common medium plate and 1.0 mm cold rolled coil (CRC) were respectively RMB 3,540 /mt ($520.8/mt), RMB 3,418/mt ($502.9/mt) and RMB 3,968/mt ($583.8/mt), down RMB 253/mt ($37/mt), RMB 346/mt ($50.9/mt) and RMB 655/mt ($96.4/mt) month on month, while rising by 24 percent, 19.8 percent and 12 percent year on year, respectively.