Chinese Crude Steel Production Ramps Up in May, Hits New Record

BEIJING (Scrap Monster):  The latest statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicate that the crude steel output by China hit record high during the month of May this year. However, slowdown in property sector and declining economic growth is feared to reduce the demand growth during latter half of the year.

According to government data, the country's crude steel output totaled 70.43 million tonnes in May. The output jumped by 2.6% over the year. Also, the crude steel production was up by 2.3% when compared with the output during April '14. The May output went higher than the previous record of 70.25 million tonnes hit during March.

The cumulative output during the initial five months of the year totaled 342.52 million tonnes, 2.7% higher when compared with the output during the corresponding five months of the previous year.

The average daily crude steel output fell from the record high of 2.295 million tons during April to 2.272 million tons during May this year. The daily output has not fallen below 2.200 million tons so far this year.

The steel mills in the country have boosted production to take advantage of the falling iron ore prices. The price of the raw material has declined to almost one-third during recent months.