Crude steel output in the first half of the year increased by 9.9%

On July 31, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced the operation of the iron and steel industry in the first half of 2019. The details are as follows.

In the first half of the year, China's crude steel output reached 49.21.7 million tons, an increase of 9.9% year-on-year, an increase of 3.9 percentage points year-on-year; steel output reached 586.9 million tons, an increase of 11.4%, an increase of 5.4 percentage points. Coke output was 233.87 million tons, up 6.7%, down 3.2% in the same period last year. The output of ferroalloys increased by 9.5% to 16.37 million tons, and by 4.9 percentage points. Steel exports of 34.4 million tons (customs statistics), down by 2.6%; imports of 5.82 million tons, down by 12.7%. Iron ore imports dropped by 5.9% to 499.09 million tons. Coke exports were 3.85 million tons, down 19.7%.

Steel prices fell compared with last month. In June, the composite index of steel prices in the domestic market averaged 108.99 points, down 3.17 points from last month and 7.31 points from a year earlier. The average price of the 8mm high-speed line is 421 CNY/ton, down 2% from last month and 3.4% from the same period last year. The average price of 20mm medium plate is 4000 CNY/ton, down 3% from last month and 10.4% from the same period last year. The average price of 1.0mm cold rolled coil is 4310 CNY/ton, which is 3.1% lower than that of last month and 9.4% lower than that of last month.