In the January-February period of the current year, China’s crude steel output amounted to 136.82 million mt, up 5.9 percent year on year, as announced by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). In the given year, China’s finished steel output and ferroalloys output amounted to 159.03 million mt and 5.15 million mt, up 4.6 percent and 8.9 percent year on year, respectively, while China’s overall output of metallurgical coke totaled 67.31 million mt, down 2.7 percent year on year. Meanwhile, in the given period China’s finished steel exports amounted to 9.5 million mt, down 27.1 percent, while its finished steel imports totaled 2.22 million mt, up 1.6 percent, both year on year.
As also indicated by the NDRC, in the January-February period this year China's average composite steel price index issued by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) was at 114.77 points, down 9.29 points compared to December last year and rising by 11.73 points year on year. In particular, in the January-February period of the current year, the average prices of 6.5 mm high-speed wire rod, 20 mm common medium plate and 1.0 mm cold rolled coil (CRC) were respectively RMB 4,085/mt ($650.6/mt), RMB 4,163/mt ($663.1/mt) and RMB 4,807/mt ($765.6/mt), down RMB 528/mt ($84.1/mt), RMB 178/mt ($28.4/mt) and RMB 216/mt ($34.4/mt) compared to December last year and rising by 14.9 percent, up 13.0 percent and down 0.7 percent year on year, respectively.