In July this year, China produced 78.18 million mt of pig iron, up 8.8 percent year on year and up 2.0 percent month on month, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on August 14. Also, China’s crude steel and finished steel outputs totaled 93.36 million mt and 115.85 million mt in July, up 9.1 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively, year on year, while rising by 1.94 percent and 0.9 percent month on month, signaling steelmakers’ willingness to produce amid the rising trend in finished steel prices, the strong demand after the rainy season and the bullish sentiment in the futures market.
In the January-July period this year, China produced 510.86 million mt of pig iron, 593.17 million mt of crude steel and 723.95 million mt of finished steel, up 3.2 percent, 2.8 percent and 3.7 percent year on year, respectively.
