According to the latest figures released by China's State Bureau of Statistics, the country's crude steel production for the whole of 2009 reached 567.842 million mt, up 13.05 percent year on year. Meanwhile, domestic crude steel production in December 2009 totaled 47.66 million mt, up 26.59 percent year on year. Average daily crude steel production during the month in question reached 1.5376 million mt, indicating a month-on-month decrease, of 38,000 mt, for the third straight month. In 2009, China's outputs of finished steel and pig iron totaled 692.44 million mt and 543.75 million mt, up 18.5 percent and 15.9 percent respectively compared with the previous year.
In December, crude steel production of China's key mills (i.e., of the 68 large and medium size mills in the country as listed by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA)) came to 41.61 million mt, up 9.68 million mt or 30.3 percent year on year, accounting for 87.3 percent of total national crude steel production; meanwhile, crude steel production of these key mills in 2009 amounted to 464.53 million mt, up 47.05 million mt or 11.3 percent year on year, constituting 81.8 percent of total domestic production during the year.
In December, pig iron production of China's key mills totaled 39.3 million mt, up 9.84 million mt or 33.4 percent year on year, accounting for 87.86 percent of total national pig iron production; meanwhile, pig iron production of the key mills in the whole of 2009 amounted to 443.23 million mt, up 58.76 million mt or 15.3 percent year on year, constituting 81.51 percent of total domestic production during the year.
In December, finished steel production of China's key mills reached 39.33 million mt, up 9.83 million mt or 33.3 percent year on year, accounting for 60.84 percent of total national finished steel production; meanwhile, finished steel production of the key mills in 2009 amounted to 431.63 million mt, up 52.11 million mt or 13.7 percent year on year, constituting 62.33 percent of total domestic production during the year.
Although domestic steel demand has been greatly boosted by China's economic stimulus measures, the key mills registered increased steel production but posted decreased sales revenues in 2009. Among the 68 key large and medium scale producers listed by the CISA, total output of crude steel in 2009 was up 11.27 percent year on year, with sales revenues down by 10.14 percent and net profit down by 33.64 percent.
According to the data from the CISA, the China Steel Price Index (CSPI) started to rebound after touching the bottom in April last year, reaching 98.14 points by the end of May, marking a rise of 2.58 points month on month; meanwhile, domestic steel production also recovered in May, exerting a braking effect on the rise of the steel market. In 2009, the average CSPI stood at 103.12 points, down 33.54 points or 24.54 percent compared with the 2008 average.