Oct. 24 (China Dailly) -- China's crude steel output climbed 10.7 percent year-on-year in first three quarters to 525.74 million tonnes, according to latest data provided by the country's top economic planner.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on its website that the increase was 2 percentage points lower than that of the same period in the previous year.

China also produced 667.29 million tonnes of rolled steel between January and September, up 13.9 percent year-on-year. The growth rate was 5.1 percentage points lower than the year-earlier level.

Meanwhile, steel prices dropped slightly in September. The composite domestic price index fell to 134.06 points, down 1.11 points from August, but up 14.49 points from a year ago.

Rolled steel exports rose 9.5 percent year-on-year to 37.15 million tonnes, while imports fell 4.3 percent to 11.96 million tonnes, according to the statement.

In the first eight months, the steel industry realized a profit of 206.7 billion yuan (32.5 billion U.S. dollars), up 32.6 percent from the same period last year. The increase was 63.1 percentage points lower than a year earlier, the NDRC said.