In the January-July period of the current year, China's crude steel output amounted to 480.76 million mt, up 2.7 percent year on year, as announced by China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on August 25. The growth rate in question was 4.4 percentage points lower than that recorded in the same period of last year.
In the first seven months of the current year, China's overall outputs of metallurgical coke and ferroalloys amounted to 274.37 million mt and 21.40 million mt, down 0.5 percent and up 8.7 percent respectively, both on year-on-year basis. The growth rates of coke and ferroalloy production in the given period were 7.6 and 4.5 percentage points lower than in the same period of 2013. Meanwhile, in January-July this year, China's exports of finished steel amounted to 49.07 million mt, up 36.9 percent on year-on-year basis.
As also indicated by the NDRC, in July this year China's composite steel price index issued by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) was at 92.16 points, down 1.41 points compared to June. In particular, in July the average prices of 6.5 mm high-speed wire rod, 20 mm common medium plate and 1.0 mm cold rolled coil were respectively RMB 3,205/mt ($520.29/mt), RMB 3,406/mt ($552.92/mt) and RMB 4,119/mt ($668.67/mt), down RMB 48/mt ($7.79/mt), RMB 54/mt ($8.77/mt) and RMB 57/mt ($9.25/mt) month on month, while indicating declines of 8.6 percent, 6.5 percent and 8 percent year on year.
In the January-June period of the current year, the domestic steel industry realized an overall gross profit of RMB 74.7 billion ($12.13 billion), up 1.1 percent year on year.
