According to data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), China's pig iron, crude steel and finished steel product output in April 2024 increased by 0.7% y/y to 72.58 million mt, 86.02 million mt and 125.09 million mt, respectively. On an annual basis, production increases remained limited while overall production volume remained flat.
However, there was a notable decrease in April compared to March. Crude steel production decreased by 7% m/m to 6.82 million mt. This decline was higher than market expectations. This is because most of the major producers kept their output stable or increased it in the first half of the month.
Production maintained its upward trend in the first four months
In the January-April period, China's total pig iron production increased by 0.8% to 288.85 million mt, crude steel production by 0.4% to 345.35 million mt and finished steel production by 6% to 480.21 million mt.
Limited increase in production in early May
China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) announced that the average daily crude steel output of large and medium-sized steel mills (CISA member companies) increased by 0.2% to 2.205 million metric tons during May 1-10 compared to the last ten days of April. This data is considered as a sign of recovery in the first days of May despite the decrease in production in April.
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