Xin Guobin, an official at China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on March 18 that during the first two months of 2010 China produced 103 million mt of crude steel, registering an increase of 25.4 percent year on year; meanwhile, the average daily steel output for the period amounted to a record high of 1.744 million mt. The official stated that China's crude steel output in 2010 is expected to increase by 10 percent compared with 2009.
According to Mr. Xin, in 2009 China's steel capacity exceeded 700 million mt. While apparent consumption for the year was at 565 million mt, real consumption was less than 530 million. However, blind expansion of steel capacity remains a serious problem facing China's steel industry.
According to the MIIT official, China eliminated 21.13 million mt of out-of-date iron-making capacity and 16.91 million mt of dated steelmaking capacity in 2009. Meanwhile, about 100 million mt of iron-making capacity and 11.29 million mt of steelmaking capacity are to be eliminated by the end of 2011.