In the January-September period of the current year, China’s crude steel output amounted to 638.73 million mt, up 6.3 percent year on year, as announced by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). In the first nine months of the current year, China’s finished steel output amounted to 829.86 million mt, up 1.2 percent year on year, while China’s overall outputs of metallurgical coke and ferroalloys totaled 331.81 million mt and 25.78 million mt, up 0.2 percent and remaining stable year on year, respectively. Meanwhile, in the given period China’s finished steel exports amounted to 59.60 million mt, down 29.8 percent, while its finished steel imports totaled 10.01 million mt, up 1.8 percent, both year on year.
As also indicated by the NDRC, in September this year China's average composite steel price index issued by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) was at 116.42 points, up 3.64 points month on month and rising by 40.12 points year on year. In particular, in September 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 4,232/mt ($638.3/mt), RMB 4,127/mt ($622.5/mt) and RMB 4,782/mt ($721.3/mt), up RMB 91/mt ($13.7/mt), RMB 166/mt ($25.1/mt) and RMB 95/mt ($14.3/mt) month on month, while rising by 59.9 percent, 51.6 percent and 34.3 percent year on year.