Steel output up 3.9pc in early Jan: China

BEIJING: China daily crude steel output rose 3.94 percent in the first 10 days of January to 1.691 million tonnes, according to data issued by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) on Sunday.

Daily runs over the period were at their highest level since late October, with mills boosting production ahead of the week-long Chinese new-year holiday beginning on Jan. 22.

Total output in 2011 stood at a record 683.27 million tonnes, up 8.9 percent and amounting to a daily rate of 1.87 million tonnes.

Production stood at more than 1.9 million tonnes a day from late February to the end of September, but then slumped amid uncertainties about domestic demand, particularly from the real estate sector.