SteelOrbis Shanghai
The latest official data show that China's crude steel production in April totaled 40.318 million mt, up 5.71 million mt or 16.5 percent year on year, with average daily production of 1.344 million mt. Meanwhile, crude steel production for the January-April period reached 155.093 million mt, up 27.128 million mt or 21.2 percent.
China's pig iron production in April totaled 37.845 million mt, up 4.56 million mt or 13.7 percent year on year. Meanwhile, total January-April production reached 146.338 million mt, up 22.428 million mt or 18.1 percent.
The country's finished steel production totaled 46.27 million mt, up eight million mt or 20.9 percent year on year. On the other hand, production for the January-April period reached 172.208 million mt, up 33.777 million mt or 24.4 percent year on year.
In April, China's iron ore output totaled 54.314 million mt, up 13.751 million mt or 33.9 percent compared with the same period last year. January-April iron ore output reached 190.944 million mt, up 48.129 million mt or 33.7 percent year on year.
China's coke output for April totaled 26.464 million mt, up 4.737 million mt or 21.8 percent year on year. Meanwhile, coke output for the January-April period reached 99.846 million mt, up 18.868 million mt or 23.3 percent year on year.
Ferroalloy output totaled 1.342 million mt in April, up 370,000 mt or 38 percent year on year. January-April production reached 4.934 million mt, up 1.476 million mt or 42.7 percent year on year.
Taking imports and exports into account, China's crude steel supply was 33.59 million mt in the domestic market in April, up 1.6 percent year on year, constituting a sharp drop in growth. This was due mainly to the 7.16 million mt of finished steel exports and 870,000 mt of semis exports which were registered during the month.
April exports totaled 8.41 million mt of crude steel, accounting for 20.9 percent of total crude steel production for the month. However, according to industry insiders an export percentage of 10 percent of crude steel output is viewed as more suitable, and so the Chinese government is now considering the imposition of export tariffs and other related measures in order to further limit exports.