China reduced steel production by 2.2% y/y in January-October 2022

In January-October 2022, China’s steel companies reduced steel production by 2.2% compared to the same period in 2021 – to 860.57 million tons. SteelOrbis reports about it with the reference to data from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The production of steel products in China for 10 months reached 1.116 billion tons, decreasing by 1.4% to January-October 2021. The production of pig iron during this period decreased by 1.2% y/y – to 726.89 million tons.

In October 2022, Chinese steelmakers increased steel production by 11% compared to the same month of 2021 – up to 79.76 million tons. The output of steel products in October amounted to 114.85 million tons (+11.3% y/y), and pig iron – 70.83 million tons (+11.9% y/y).

On a monthly basis, steel production in China fell by 8.3% in October, pig iron fell by 4.2%, and production of steel products fell by 1.2%.

Import of iron ore to China in October 2022 decreased by 4.3% year-on-year and by 4.75% month-on-month – to 94.97 million tons. In January-October 2022, supplies of imported raw materials to China amounted to 917 million tons, which by 1 .7% less y/y.

As GMK Center reported earlier, China announced plans for further reducing steel production in 2022 after a decrease in smelting by almost 30 million tons in 2021. The control of steel production is part of China’s efforts to achieve the goal of reducing the country’s carbon emissions.

China is the largest producer of steel in the world. In 2021, Chinese steelmakers reduced steel production by 3% compared to 2020 – to 1.03 billion tons.