In June this year, China’s outputs of pig iron, crude steel and finished steel totaled 71.91 million mt, 83.18 million mt and 127.84 million mt, decreasing by 4.1 percent, declining by 9.2 percent and rising by 1.8 percent year on year, respectively, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The year-on-year drop in crude steel output in June was the highest this year and output is expected to remain below 85 million mt for a few months ahead. As compared to May, crude steel production lost 3.89 percent as more mills started maintenance at the beginning of the offseason for demand. Also, mills using EAFs had to cut utilization rates due to high local scrap prices and losses compared to the improved profits of producers using iron ore for steel production.
Though weak local demand is the main reason behind the production declines in China, the pressure from the export market also increased with June export shipments falling below 10 million mt.
In the January-June period this year, China’s outputs of pig iron, crude steel and finished steel totaled 434.68 million mt, 514.83 million mt and 734.38 million mt, decreasing by 0.8 percent, declining by 3.0 percent, and increasing by 4.6 percent year on year, respectively.
The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has announced that in early July (July 1-10) this year the average aggregate daily crude steel output of large and medium-sized steel enterprises in China - all CISA members - totaled 2.097 million mt, down 1.5 percent compared to late June (June 21-30) this year, following a 0.9 percent drop in late June. In July, steel production in China will continue to decline and market sources predict around 80-82 million mt of crude steel production during the month partially due to official production cuts in Tangshan and Shanxi.