In the January-February period this year China’s apparent crude steel consumption moved up by 9.8 percent to 129.5 million mt, while the country’s crude steel output increased by 5.9 percent to 136.8 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 11.3 percent to 2.5 million mt and its semi-finished and finished steel exports showed a decrease of 27.1 percent to 9.5 million mt, both on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, in the first two months of the current year, China’s iron ore imports increased by 5.4 percent to 185 million mt, compared to the same period of 2017.