China’s crude steel production dropped for the fourth consecutive month in October, dragging global output by over 10 per cent year-on-year, according to the World Steel Association (worldsteel).

Crude steel production saw its sharpest fall yet in October by 23.3 per cent, following a 21.2 per cent fall in September, the association said in its data released today. Global production, on the other hand, slid 10.6 per cent and this follows a 8.4 drop in September.

In contrast, the output in India, worldsteel said in its data for 64 countries, increased 2.4 per cent, though lower than the 7.2 per cent rise seen in September.

Higher than Sept

China’s production in October has been pegged at 71.6 million tonnes (mt), while its overall crude steel production for the first ten months has been estimated 0.7 per cent lower at 877.1 mt. China’s steel output dropped 8.4 per cent in July and 13.2 per cent in August.

Global steel production in October has been pegged at 145.7 mt and for the January-October period, it has been estimated at 1,6071 mt. World output in October, however, was higher than in September (144.4 mt)

India’s production for October has been projected at 9.8 mt and for the January-October period at 96.9 mt. In September, India produced 9.5 mt.

Japan continued to be the third-largest producer with its production up 14.3 per cent in October to 8.2 mt, while the US output increased 20.5 per cent to 7.5 mt.

Iron ore prices

The worldsteel data come at a time when iron ore prices hit the upper ceiling of 10 per cent earlier today on the Dalian Commodity Exchange. However, the prices pared part of their gains later. Iron ore for delivery in January ended nearly eight per cent higher at 587 yuan or $91.86 a tonne.

Prices gained on hopes that steel producers were set to operate at optimum capacity after the recent controls following the energy crisis.

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