Chinese steelmakers produce 6.5 million tons of bonus steel
Chinese thirty special steel producers produced 6.52 million tons of bonus steel during the first four months of 2004, revealing a rise of 16.7% compared to the same period of last year. Alloy steel output increased by 20.7% to 3.2 million tons in the mentioned period while high quality steel products amounted to 6.6 million tons with an increase of 15.7%. Medium and heavy plate production reached 471'000 tons and production of sheet and seamless pipe totaled to 174'000 and 901'000 tons respectively. Stainless wire rod output was recorded as 40'000 tons in the mentioned period. Production of carbon steel, high speed steel, nickel based stainless and chrome based stainless amounted to 2.5 million tons, 14'000 tons, 332'000 tons and 69'000 tons respectively.