Total crude-steel output in China, the world’s biggest producer, rose 2 percent in October from a month ago amid signs of a demand pickup, Bloomberg reports.
Production reached 59.1 million tons in October, up from 57.94 million tons in September, based on monthly data collated by the National Bureau of Statistics. Output was 6 percent higher than a year ago, the stats bureau said today, without giving year-ago numbers.
Economic growth in China may reach 7.7 percent this quarter from 7.4 percent in the three months ended Sept. 30, according to the median estimate of 31 economists in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., the nation’s biggest publicly traded mill, yesterday raised prices for most cold- rolled products for the first time in three months.
“Mills in northern China we’ve talked with over the past month has been operating at high capacity utilization ratio,” said Hu Yanping, chief analyst with Beijing-based researcher Custeel.com. “There were also very few cases of suspension for maintenance.”
Chinese prices for hot-rolled coil, a benchmark product, have climbed 21 percent from a three-year low on Sept. 7, after the government announced plans to spend on subways, railroads, roads, sewage-treatment plants, port and warehouse projects. Prices rose 0.6 percent to 3,950 yuan ($634) a ton today, according to Beijing Antaike Information Development Co.
On a daily basis, output fell to 1.91 million metric tons last month from the 1.93 million tons in September, which was the highest level since June, according to the bureau. For the first ten months, production gained 2.1 percent to 602.2 million tons, it said.
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