National Development and Reform Commission announced the performance of Chinese steel industry in January to October 2019. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to October, the national output of pig iron, crude steel and finished steel was 675.18 million tonnes, 829.22 million tonnes and 1.01 billion tonnes respectively, up 5.4 per cent, 7.4 per cent and 9.8 per cent respectively over the same period last year. Steel exports continued to decline. According to the General Administration of Customs, during January to October, the country exported 55.087 million tonnes of steel, down 5.8 percent from the same period last year. Steel prices fluctuated in a narrow range. China's steel composite price index averaged 108.15 points in October, down 0.43 points, or 0.4 percent, from a month earlier, according to the China Iron and Steel Industry Association. After entering the third quarter, China's steel composite price index showed narrow fluctuations, falling to 104.34 points at the end of October, down 1.7% from the previous quarter and 14.3% from the same period last year.
NDRC said “Affected by the changes in market demand, steel prices fluctuate in a narrow range, and the overall efficiency of iron and steel enterprises is significantly lower than that of the same period last year. The basic operation of the iron and steel industry from January to October is as follows.
Steel stocks continue to fall back. After rising to 14.02 million tonnes in the third quarter, the social inventory of five kinds of steel (thread steel, wire rod, hot rolled coil, cold rolled coil, medium and heavy plate) in major cities across the country continued to fall back to 12.56 million tonnes at the end of October, down 5.6 percent from the previous month.