In the first half of the current year, China’s crude steel output amounted to 409.97 million mt, down 1.3 percent year on year, as announced by China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on July 30. The growth rate in question was 4.3 percentage points lower than that recorded in the same period last year.
In the first half of the current year, China’s overall outputs of metallurgical coke and ferroalloys amounted to 226.38 million mt and 17.66 million mt, down 3.4 percent and 2.7 percent respectively, both on year-on-year basis. The growth rates of coke and ferroalloy production in the given period were 2.4 and 12 percentage points lower than in the same period of 2014. Meanwhile, in the first half of the current year China’s exports of finished steel amounted to 52.40 million mt, up 27.8 percent on year-on-year basis.
As also indicated by the NDRC, in June this year China's average composite steel price index issued by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) was at 68.14 points, down 25.44 points compared to June last year. In particular, in June 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 2,355/mt ($379.8/mt), RMB 2,327/mt ($375.3/mt) and RMB 3,071/mt ($495.3/mt), down RMB 128/mt ($20.6/mt), declining by RMB 169/mt ($27.3/mt) and decreasing by RMB 114/mt ($18.4/mt) month on month, while indicating declines of 27.6 percent, 32.8 percent and 26.5 percent year on year, respectively.