In August this year, China’s outputs of pig iron, crude steel and finished steel totaled 69.79 million mt, 77.37 million mt and 122.77 million mt, increasing by 1.0 percent, declining by 0.7 percent and rising by 9.7 percent year on year, while down 1.43 percent, 2.87 percent and 0.15 percent month on month, respectively, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Monthly crude steel production fell below the 80 million mt mark again in August, as it had in July - for the first time this year, and August production was down 2.87 percent compared to July. The production cuts in Tianjin and Tangshan amid the approach of the military parade in Beijing on September 3 contributed to the decrease in crude steel output in August, while the high temperatures in the traditional off-season and slack demand also caused output to fall in the given month.
In the January-August period this year, China’s outputs of pig iron, crude steel and finished steel totaled 579.07 million mt, 671.81 million mt and 982.17 million mt, decreasing by 1.1 percent, declining by 2.8 percent, and increasing by 5.5 percent year on year, respectively.
The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has announced that in late August (August 21-31) this year the average aggregate daily crude steel output of large and medium-sized steel enterprises in China - all CISA members - totaled 1.947 million mt, down 8.0 percent compared to mid-August (August 11-20) this year.