SHANGHAI, Jun 16 (SMM) – Major Chinese steelmakers continued to ramp up production in early June, after the country’s steel output hit a record high in the previous month.
The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) reported Monday June 15 that crude steel output across major mills in China averaged 2.11 million mt per day in the first 10 days of June, up 0.8% from the level seen in late May. That was as high as the level seen in mid-September 2019, which is the highest on record.
Daily crude steel output for early June was 2.8% higher than the average level for the full month of May, and 2.36% higher than the same period last year, according to the CISA report.
Compared to late May, average daily production of pig iron across those mills rose 1.37% to 1.88 million mt in early June, while that of steel products decreased 4.26% 1.98 million mt.
As of June 10, inventories of steel products across those mills stood at 13.82 million mt, up 536,000 mt, or 4.03%, from May 31. The stocks were 4.29 million mt, or 45% higher than the beginning of the year.
China’s crude steel output reached a record high in May, according to government data, as enticing profits encouraged mills to ramp up production.
About 92.27 million mt of crude steel was produced in China last month, up 8.5% from April and 4.2% from May 2019, according to SMM calculations based on data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released Monday June 15.
