News Room - Steel Industry

Posted on 28 Oct 2009

Steel Inventories in China Jump 10% in Nine Months

Steel inventories held by large Chinese companies jumped 10 percent in the first nine months of the year, adding to evidence of rising oversupply in the world's largest producer of the metal.

Inventories held by the companies rose 660,000 metric tons to 7.2 million tons as of the end of September, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said today on its Web site, without identifying the companies. Traders at 24 major cities held 11.2 million tons of steel at the end of last month, up 290,000 tons from a month earlier, it said.

Monthly steel output in China reached records for four months from May through August as the government spends 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) to revive economic growth. The nation's cabinet in August said it was studying curbs on overcapacity in industries including steel.

The steel industry posted an aggregate profit of 83 billion yuan in the first eight months, down 66 percent from a year ago, the ministry said.

China became a net steel importer this year after exports slumped in the global recession, the ministry said. Net imports, or imports minus exports, were 1.37 million tons of crude steel in the first nine months, the ministry said.