NBS: China pig iron output dipped 1.2% YoY in April

SHANGHAI, May 15 (SMM) – China’s output of pig iron increased 7.5% to 72.02 million mt in April from a month ago, to generate a year-over-year decline of 1.2%, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Friday.

This took China’s pig iron output in the first four months of 2020 to 277.99 million mt, up 1.3% from the same period last year, decelerating from an increase of 2.4% seen in the first three months.

NBS data also showed that China’s crude steel production inched up 0.2% to 85.03 million mt in April from a year ago, while output of steel production increased 3.6% during the same period to 107.01 million mt.

For the January-to-April period, China’s crude steel production rose 1.3% year on year to 319.46 million mt, while that of steel products dipped 0.2% to 374.39 million mt.