In the first 11 months of 2018, China’s apparent crude steel consumption moved up by 8.1 percent to 803.6 million mt, while the country’s crude steel output increased by 6.7 percent to 857.4 million mt, both year on year, according to the China report from the World Steel Association (worldsteel). In November alone, the country’s apparent steel consumption was 73.2 million mt, rising by 11.4 percent month on month.
In the January-November period, China’s semi-finished and finished steel product imports increased by 0.5 percent to 12.2 million mt and its semi-finished and finished steel exports showed a decrease of 8.6 percent to 63.8 million mt, both on year-on-year basis.
In the same period, China’s iron ore imports amounted to 978 million mt, falling by 1.3 percent year on year.