In May this year, China’s crude steel and finished steel outputs amounted to 99.45 million mt and 124.69 million mt, up 6.6 percent and 7.9 percent year on year, respectively, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on June 16. The pace of growth slowed down from 13.4 percent and 12.5 percent year on year in April.
Measures to improve air quality and sharp price fluctuations led to a more cautious policy among steelmakers, though production was already at relatively high levels.
Compared with April, production also posted a further increase, but at a slower pace compared to the month-on-month rise recorded in April. In May, crude steel output rose by 1.6 percent month on month, while finished steel production was 2.8 percent higher than in April. Pig iron production was at 78.15 million mt in May, down 0.2 percent year on year, but up 2.87 percent month on month.
In the January-May period this year, China produced 379.9 million mt of pig iron, up 5.4 percent year on year, with the year-on-year growth 3.3 percentage point slower than that recorded in the first four months this year,
China’s crude steel and finished steel outputs totaled 473.1 million mt and 576.57 million mt in the first five months this year, up 13.9 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively, year on year, with the year-on-year growths 1.9 percentage point and 3.3 percentage points slower than those recorded in the January-April period.