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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.