Steel production up in China's Liaoning province

Steel production up in China’s Liaoning province

Liaoning, China's one of the largest steel producing province, built upon last year's explosive growth with a steady increase in steel production for the first half of 2005. China's Liaoning province produced 15.24 million tons of steel products during the first six years of the year, up 17.5 percent year on year, according to data from the Provincial Economic and Trade Commission. Liaoning's crude steel output rose 21.5 percent year on year to 14.95 million tons in the first six months. In addition, continuous casting billet output increased 21.8 percent to 14.09 million tons and pig iron output rose 30.2 percent to 15.26 million tons. Meanwhile, Liaoning's key iron and steel enterprises exported 2.57 million tons of steel products in the first half of the year. Those exports carried a total trade value of $1.353 billion. Anshan Iron and Steel lead all steelmakers in the region in terms of exports, with $642 million worth of product sent abroad. Benxi Iron and Steel placed second in exports with $297 million, and Beitai Iron and Steel followed right behind at $296 million. The province's Economic and Trade Commission indicated that Liaoning's production of ten major non-ferrous metals rose 3.6 percent year on year to 262'200 tons in the first six months of the year.