China produced 130.8Mt of crude steel in January and February of 2014, up 1.7% from the same period last year. Average crude steel output per day for January and February 2014 was 2.217Mt, up 10.2% from December 2013, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NRB).
China's steel output was up 4.9% year-on-year for the January-February period (165.73Mt), but daily average steel output was 2.809Mt, down 3.7% from December 2013.
In terms of pig iron output, the January-February figure was 116.72Mt, up 0.2% year-on-year. Daily pig iron output was up 12.1% from last December at, on average, 1.978Mt.
Where coke was concerned, the January-February output was 75.76Mt, up 3% year-on-year with a daily average of 1.284Mt, down by 1% from December 2013.
Grouping together China's major steelmakers, the combined daily crude steel output from March 1-10 was down 7.96% at 1.6606Mt, according to figures from the China Iron and Steel Association. Their daily pig iron and steel products outputs for the March 1-10 period were down 8.73% and 13.17% respectively when compared with figures for February 21-28.
Nationwide daily crude steel production for March 1-10 was estimated at 2.0968Mt.
Source: China Metals.