Cisa member mills’ output continues to slide in late May

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Member mills of the China Iron & Steel Assn (Cisa), the majority of which are steelmakers of such sizes, produced 1.7673 million tpd of crude steel over the last 11 days of the month.

This is down 1.8% from mid-May – according to data released by the industry body on Monday June 9 – when output first began to slide.

“Crude steel production could extend its slide into June, as steel mills know well that the summer will bring weaker demand,” a trader in Shanghai said.

As at May 31, Cisa member mills’ combined finished steel inventory totalled 13.852 million tonnes, down 7.6% from May 20.

For the entire month of May, output averaged 1.7963 million tpd, 0.7% higher than the April average of 1.7845 million tpd.

Cisa has not released any estimate for China’s overall crude steel output since early May, when it published its member statistics for late April.

The association has not given any reason for discontinuing the publication of the estimate.