Crude steel output slightly dropped in China last month, but remained at a very high level. More production is expected in November, which may impact market prices in the year end.

Chinese mills smelted 92.2 million t of crude steel in October, which was 12.7% higher than a year ago, and down by 0.4% (360,000 t) than in September 2020. according to the latest release of National Bureau of Statistics.

Since a new era was started in May this year, when production hit 92 million t for the first time. “[The output above 90 million t per month] is the new normal,”

In January-October crude steel output reached 874 million t, up 5.5% compared to the same period of 2019. It means that annual output should hit 1.05 billion t this year.