In the January-February this year, China’s outputs of pig iron, crude steel and finished steel totaled 140.73 million mt, 167.96 million mt and 213.43 million mt, decreasing by 0.6 percent, increasing by 1.6 percent, and increasing by 7.9 percent year on year, respectively, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on March 18.
The increase in crude steel output was unexpected by market sources due to the weak demand in January and the unexpected lack of improvement after the Lunar New Year holiday. The NBS generally provides the data for January and February together due to the changing dates of the Chinese New Year holiday. According to the World Steel Association, in January Chinese crude steel production declined by 6.9 percent year on year to 77.2 million mt. As for February, mills had been preparing for a seasonal demand rebound, and so they kept production at relatively high levels. But starting from the end of the month, some production cuts have started to be announced due to negative margins.
In the January-February period last year, crude steel output had surged by 5.6 percent year on year to 168.7 million mt.