China produced 1.05 bn t (1,054.83 mn t) of crude steel in CY ’20, up by 6% from the previous high of 996.34 mn t last year. Output increased an account of robust domestic demand that was backed by the fiscal stimulus package announced earlier by the Chinese government. The country also witnessed iron ore imports at 1.17 bn t in CY ’20, according to the General Administration of Customs. These imports have hit an all time record high and moved up by 9% compared to 1.069 bn t in CY ’19.
China’s coal production and imports have recorded an increase of 2.9% and 1.7% y-o-y basis respectively in CY ’20. One of the main reasons for this was China’s ban on Australian coal imports which had been the biggest source of country’s coal imports since quite some time. This along with colder-than-usual winters in 2020 and supply shortage of Indonesian coal (another key coal-sourcing destination for China) seems to have boosted China’s domestic coal production as well as imports from other destinations.
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