China sees 3.1% growth of steel output in 2012

BEIJING, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- China produced 716.54 million tonnes of crude steel in 2012, up 3.1 percent over the previous year; 657.91 million tonnes of iron, up 3.7 percent; and 951.86 million tonnes of steel, up 7.7 percent.

Compared with the previous year, the growth rates of the three products fell by 4.2, 4.7 and 2.2 percentage points, respectively, according to a report from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

In 2012 China exported 55.73 million tonnes of steel, up 14 percent, while imported 13.66 tonnes of steel, down 12.3 percent. The total import of iron ore stood at 743.55 million tonnes, up 8.4 percent, with an average price of 128.6 U.S. dollars per tonne, down 35.4 U.S. dollars per tonne.

Due to sharp decline of steel prices, steel enterprises were selling steel at almost no profit, and fixed asset investment in the industry went up slightly by 3 percent to 658.4 billion yuan.

The report says in 2013 China's planned output of crude steel is about 750 million tonnes, with the apparent consumption stand at 700 million tonnes.