In the January-April period of the current year, China's crude steel output amounted to 271.86 million mt, up 2.7 percent year on year, as announced by China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on May 29. The growth rate in question was 5.7 percentage points lower than that recorded in the same period of last year.
In the first four months of the current year, China's overall outputs of metallurgical coke and ferroalloys amounted to 152.55 million mt and 12.24 million mt, down 1.1 percent and up 9.2 percent respectively, both on year-on-year basis. The growth rates of coke and ferroalloy production in the given period were 9.0 and 10.5 percentage points lower than in the same period of 2013. Meanwhile, in January-April this year, China's exports of finished steel amounted to 25.87 million mt, up 29.5 percent on year-on-year basis.
As also indicated by the NDRC, in April this year China's composite steel price index issued by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) was at 95.75 points, up 0.3 points compared to March. In particular, in April the average prices of 6.5 mm high-speed wire rod and 20 mm common medium plate were RMB 3,389/mt ($552.9/mt) and RMB 3,528/mt ($575.5/mt), up RMB 76/mt ($12.4/mt) and RMB 39/mt ($6.4/mt) month on month, while down 8.1 percent and 8.8 percent year on year. The average price of 1.0 mm cold rolled coil was RMB 4,259/mt ($694.8/mt), down RMB 55/mt ($9.0/mt) from March, while down 10.5 percent year on year.
In the January-March period of the current year, the domestic steel industry realized an overall gross profit of RMB 29.3 billion ($4.8 billion), down 18.8 percent year on year.