China’s crude steel output up 2.7% in early August

China’s crude steel output increased in early August due to higher prices of finished products.

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The country produced 2.14 million tpd of crude steel during the first 10 days of the month, up 2.7% from late July, according to estimates released by China Iron & Steel Assn on Tuesday August 20.

Output of Cisa members – mainly medium-sized and large steel mills – saw a bigger increase of 5.5% from late July to 1.76 million tpd during the same period.

Domestic steel prices have been rallying since mid-June, with rebar prices in eastern China up 12.8% since then to 3,520-3,710 yuan ($571-602) per tonne on August 16.

Chinese steelmakers’ inventory stood at 12.16 million tonnes as at August 10, down 1.5% from ten days earlier.