Chinese crude steel production for July was 65.84Mt, down 4.6% year-on-year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Between January and July, China’s crude steel output totalled 476Mt, down 2.8% when compared with the same period in 2014.

Pig iron production in July totalled 57.3Mt, down 4.8% on the year. The figure for January to July was 414Mt, down 2.8%.

Steel output declined 1.9% to 92.3mt, but during the first seven months of the year rose 1.5% to 651Mt.

During the first six months of 2015, China’s crude steel output declined 1.3% year-on-year, the first decline for 20 years, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Between January and June 2015, China produced 409Mt of crude steel, 357Mt of pig iron and 559Mt of steel output, up 2%.

Chinese exports increased sharply during H1 2015 with a like-for-like increase of 27.8% to 52.4Mt.