According to the latest official statistics released by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), China's 71 large and medium steel mills posted an average daily crude steel output of 1.622 million mt in early November, thus maintaining relatively high daily output levels.
The CISA also predicts that the country's annual crude steel output will reach around 600 million mt this year, far exceeding the target of 460 million mt set by the Chinese government at the start of 2009. From January to October inclusive, China's total crude steel output amounted to 472.5 million mt, up 10.5 percent year on year.
According to some industry insiders, there will not be any obvious production cuts in November and December given the current price levels, and so an output of around 600 million mt is indeed likely to be seen for the whole year.