China daily crude steel output up 5.5 pct in late Feb

China daily crude steel output up 5.5 pct in late Feb. China's daily average crude steel output over Feb. 21-28 reached 1.912 million tonnes, up 5.5 percent compared with the previous 10 days, data from the China Iron and Steel Association showed on Tuesday. Average daily output for the whole of the month stood at 1.823 million tonnes, up from 1.703 million tonnes in January, CISA said. On an annualised basis, that would amount to 665 million tonnes, according to Reuters calculations -- in line with an output forecast of 660 million tonnes made by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology last month. Chinese output has been steadily increasing despite growing uncertainty about the health of domestic demand. Prices have dropped 8 percent since early February with traders staying on the sidelines and end-users already well-stocked. Steel inventories held by major enterprises reached 9.46 million tonnes by the middle of February, up a quarter since the end of January. Analysts said much of the production increase in the first two months of the year could be attributed to small private steel mills, liberated after a late-2010 energy-saving campaign forced many of them to shut down operations. They predicted falling margins and consistently high raw material prices could lead a decline in output going into March and the second quarter. Zhang Xiaogang, the head of Anshan Iron and Steel, told reporters last weekend that overcapacity was eating into margins and that restructuring the sector had never been more crucial.