China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, claims that China’s crude steel output dropped 0.2% year-on-year in November 2014 compared with an increase of 4.2% in November 2013.

The drop in output is attributed to a suspension and/or reduction in steel production during the APEC meetings held in Beijing in early November. The aim was to improve air quality at a time when smog levels in the Chinese capital were at an all-time high.

During the first 11 months of 2014, crude steel production in China rose 1.9% to 748.67Mt, 5.9 percentage points slower than the same period of 2103.

The composite price index for domestic steel products stood at 85.83 points in November 2014, down 0.52 points from October and by 13.83 points when compared with November 2013.

The industry’s combined profits dropped 8.2% from 2013 to 145 billion Yuan (US23.7 billion) during the first 10 months of 2014.

In Q3 of the current financial year, China’s economy expanded by 7.2%, the slowest pace since Q1 2014.

Source: China Metals.