Posted on 19 Oct 2015
China's crude steel output fell 3 percent in September from a year ago to 66.12 million tonnes, government data showed on Monday, as persistent weakness in demand in the world's top producer forced steekmakers to curb output.
Output in the first nine months of 2015 was down 2.1 percent at 608.94 million tonnes, compared with the same period of last year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.
With steel prices at their lowest in nearly three decades, steel mills, including big state-owned firms, are expected to cut output further in the fourth quarter.
"China's steel output has already fallen a lot this year, while we expect more output cuts ahead and some will not be able to survive from cash shortage and heavy losses," said Qiu Yuecheng, analyst at the steel trading platform Xiben New Line E-Commerce in Shanghai.
China's economic growth eased to 6.9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, beating expectations but still the slowest since the global financial crisis, putting pressure on policymakers to roll out more support measures.
The average daily steel output was 2.204 million tonnes in September, up 2.3 percent from August, according to Reuters' calculation based on the data, driven by a modest seasonal pick-up in demand.
China's apparent consumption of crude steel peaked last year and dropped 5.5 percent to 477 million tonnes for the first eight months, outpacing a 3.5 percent fall in output, the China Iron & Steel Association said in a report on Oct.10.
Meanwhile, steel mills have boosted sales abroad to offset shrinking orders in the domestic market, with September shipment hitting an-all time high of 11.25 million tonnes.
