In July this year, China’s pig iron, crude steel and finished steel outputs amounted to 72.85 million mt, 86.79 million mt and 111 million mt, down 8.9 percent, 8.4 percent and 6.6 percent year on year, respectively, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on August 16.
Crude steel output had been rising year on year since April. At the same time, production declined month on month again, with crude steel output down 7.6 percent or slightly more than 7 million mt from June. Finished steel output decreased by 8.05 percent month on month in July.
Such more visible reductions in steel production are due to the inspections at mills and tighter controls on production and emissions by the government. Moreover, weak seasonal demand has added to the pressure.
In the January-July period this year, China produced 533.5 million mt of pig iron, up 2.3 percent year on year, with the year-on-year growth 1.7 percentage points slower than that recorded in the first six months this year. Also, China’s crude steel and finished steel outputs totaled 649.33 million mt and 809.02 million mt in the first seven months this year, up 8.0 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively, year on year, with the year-on-year growths 3.8 percentage points and 3.4 percentage points slower than those recorded in the January-June period.