In the January-June period this year, China’s apparent crude steel consumption moved up by eight percent to 421.2 million mt, while the country’s crude steel output increased by six percent to 451.2 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 decreased by two percent to 6.7 million mt and its semi-finished and finished steel exports decreased by 13.2 percent to 35.4 million mt, both on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, in the first half of this year, China’s iron ore imports decreased by 1.6 percent to 530.7 million mt, compared to the same period of 2017.