China's 9-Month Crude Steel Output Rises Over 10%

China's 9-Month Crude Steel Output Rises Over 10%.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's principal economic planning body, in a statement said the country's crude steel output in first three quarters grew 10.7 percent to 525.74 million tons, as compared to the same period last year. However, the increase was down 2 percentage points from the same period a year ago.
China's production of rolled steel during the period January to September was 667.29 million tons, which indicates an increase of 13.9 percent from last year. However, the growth rate was 5.1 percentage points lower than that recorded in the year-ago period. The National Development & Reform Commission also said steel prices in September dropped slightly. The composite domestic price index dropped to 134.06 points, a decline of 1.11 points from August, but up 14.49 points from the year-ago period.

Rolled steel exports rose 9.5 percent to 37.15 million tons from last year, while imports declined 4.3 percent to 11.96 million tons.
Profit recorded by the steel industry in the first eight months of the year, increased 32.6 percent to 206.7 billion yuan or US$32.5 billion from the corresponding period last year. Nevertheless, the increase was 63.1 percentage points lower than a year earlier.

For 2010, China's crude steel output increased 9.6 percent to 626.96 million tons as compared to the previous year.