In April this year, China’s outputs of pig iron, crude steel and finished steel totaled 72.58 million mt, 86.02 million mt and 125.09 million mt, increasing by 0.7 percent, remaining stable and rising by 6.6 percent, respectively, all on year-on-year basis, as announced by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Nevertheless, compared to March, crude steel production in April fell by seven percent or 6.82 million mt, which is well above the expectations of market sources as most major mills kept their production stable or further increased it in the first half of the month.
In the January-April period of this year, China’s outputs of pig iron, crude steel and finished steel totaled 288.85 million mt, 345.35 million mt and 480.21 million mt, increasing by 0.8 percent, 0.4 percent, and six percent year on year, respectively.
In early May (May 1-10) this year, the average aggregate daily crude steel output of large and medium-sized steel enterprises in China - all CISA members - totaled 2.205 million mt, up 0.2 percent compared to late April (April 21-30) this year, as announced by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).