Tuesday, March 29,
According to figures from the China Iron and Steel Association, China’s daily output of crude steel rose by 2.6% to a record 1.945 million tonnes from March 11-20,.* despite faltering demand and surging steel product stockpiles.
China’s steel firms have been struggling with thinning margins and sluggish demand, buffeted by high raw material prices and a series of tightening measures by the central government.
But analysts said that mills have remained desperate to run at maximum capacity in order to hang on to market share and maintain their credit lines with local banks.
Steel prices on the Chinese market have declined around 6 percent since early February as a result of lower than expected end-user demand and oversupply.
While product stockpiles have started to decline slightly in the last two weeks, they remain around two-thirds higher than at the beginning of the year.
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