Output of steel increases

CHINA’S steel output climbed in August from a month earlier, shrugging off government-ordered shutdowns and increasing concerns that excess production in the world’s biggest supplier is swelling a global glut.

Output of crude steel rose 1.7 percent to 66.94 million metric tons, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday.

While production was up from July, it fell 3.5 percent from a year earlier and dropped by 2 percent to 543.02 million tons in the first eight months, the bureau said. The country supplies more than half of the world’s steel.

The expansion on month means output rose elsewhere in China to offset closures in Hebei province, a key steelmaking region, where furnaces were ordered shut to improve air quality in Beijing before a parade to mark the anniversary of the end of World War 11.

Mills are grappling with a weakening in domestic demand for the metal used in cars and construction as the economy grows at the slowest pace in a generation.

The global steel industry is struggling with record exports from China as excess supply spills onto world markets. – Bloomberg