China’s crude steel production grew by 4.6pc in June from a year ago to 91.58mn mt, while refined copper output rose by 7pc amid steady pick up of economic activities in the country.
Steel output grew by 8.2pc in June from a year ago to 115.85mn mt driven by strong domestic demand and higher prices. Although crude steel production was higher on an annual basis, it was marginally down by 0.7pc from the country’s output in May.
| China’s steel production in June (mn mt) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production | June 2020 | June 2019 | YoY | May | MoM |
| Crude steel | 91.58 | 87.53 | 4.6% | 92.27 | -0.7% |
| Steel | 115.85 | 107.1 | 8.2% | 114.53 | 1.2% |
| Rebar | 24.46 | 22.69 | 7.8% | 24.22 | 1.0% |
| Wire rod | 14.44 | 14.21 | 1.6% | 14.27 | 1.2% |
| CR sheet | 3.14 | 2.69 | 16.7% | 3.05 | 3.0% |
In the six-month period (Jan-June), crude steel production increased by 1.4pc to 499.01mn mt from the prior year period. Steelmaker in China managed to continued with steady production rates despite the pandemic. Steel production during the period rose by 2.7pc to 605.84mn mt.
Among non-ferrous metals, copper and lead production in June increased 7pc and 16.2pc, respectively from a year ago. Chinese primary aluminum output increased by 1.4pc from a year ago as well as from May driven by improved smelter capacity. China produced 3.01mn mt primary aluminium in June.
| China’s non-ferrous production in June (mt) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production | June 2020 | June 2019 | YoY | May | MoM |
| Refined copper | 8,60,000 | 804000 | 7.0% | 8,53,000 | 0.8% |
| Lead | 552000 | 475000 | 16.2% | 5,06,000 | 9.1% |
| Zinc | 520000 | 513000 | 1.4% | 5,14,000 | 1.2% |
| Primary aluminum | 30,15,000 | 29,73,000 | 1.4% | 29,77,000 | 1.4% |
| Copper | 19,82,000 | 17,51,000 | 13.2% | 18,77,000 | 5.6% |
| Aluminum | 55,65,000 | 51,61,000 | 7.8% | 43,33,000 | 28.4% |
In the first six months, China’s aluminium production rose by 1.7pc to 17.88mn mt from the prior year period, while refined copper production grew by 4.6pc to 4.82mn mt. Lead and Zinc output grew by 4.4pc and 7.7pc, respectively, in the first six-months.