BEIJING: China’s steel output climbed in August from a month earlier, shrugging off government-ordered shutdowns and increasing concerns that excess production in the world’s biggest supplier is swelling a global glut.
Output of crude steel rose 1.7 percent to 66.94 million metric tons, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. While production was up from July, it fell 3.5 percent from a year earlier and dropped 2 percent to 543.02 million tons in the first eight months, the bureau said. The country supplies more than half of the world’s steel.
The expansion on month means output rose elsewhere in China to offset closures in Hebei province, a key steelmaking region, where furnaces were ordered shut to improve air quality in Beijing before a parade to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II. Mills are grappling with a weakening in domestic demand for the metal used in cars and construction as the economy grows at the slowest pace in a generation.
China’s industrial output rose 6.1 percent last month from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said, missing the median estimate for a 6.5 percent increase in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Fixed-asset investment expanded at the slowest pace in 15 years, raising questions over the effectiveness of government efforts to revive growth.
The global steel industry is struggling with record exports from China as excess supply spills onto world markets. Shipments in August were close to January’s record, spurring efforts by mills worldwide to stem the surge.
While outbound shipments were little changed from a month earlier, they were 25 percent more than a year ago, according to customs data Sept. 8. Exports in the first eight months climbed 26.5 percent from a year earlier. ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd., a unit of the world’s biggest steelmaker, has asked the government to extend tariffs on imports.
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