China’s crude steel production in October rose by 13pc to 92.2mn mt from 81.52mn mt in the same month last year, at an average daily output of 2.97mn mt.
According to media reports citing China’s National Bureau of Statistics data, crude steel output rose by 5.5pc to 873.9mn mt in January-October 2020 from the prior comparable period.
In October, China’s steel output fell slightly by 0.4pc from 92.56mn mt produced in the prior month, due to environmental output restrictions on sintering and lowered demand expectations over the weather in the country’s northern cities.
The weekly capacity utilization rate at Chinese mills averaged 84.3pc in October 2020, up compared to 79.1pc in October 2019, but down somewhat against 84.6pc achieved in September.
Iron ore imports in October increased by 14.9pc to 106.74mn mt, compared with October 2019, but dropped from 108.55mn mt in September. In the January-October period, iron ore imports increased by 11.2pc to 975.2mn mt from the same timeframe a year ago.