China's Baosteel says national 2013 steel output higher than official data
Baosteel, China’s leading steelmaker, has estimated national crude steel output last year at 822 million tonnes, nearly 6 per cent above official data.
China’s leading steelmaker has estimated national crude steel output last year at 822 million tonnes, nearly 6 per cent above official data, suggesting the country’s supply glut is worse than previously estimated.
The figure given in a speech published on Monday by Xu Lejiang, chairman of the state-owned parent of Shanghai-listed Baosteel, would take the annual growth rate for steel output last year from 7.5 per cent to more than 13 per cent.
China’s steel sector has been plagued by a persistent oversupply that has depressed prices and saddled hundreds of mills with colossal debts. Many are on the brink of closure.
“The harsh market situation has forced China’s steel enterprises to experience first hand the negative impact that overcapacity is having on the healthy development of the steel industry,” Xu told an internal meeting of the China Iron and Steel Association last week.
The age of rapid growth in the steel sector has already come to an end
The government has stepped up efforts to crack down on the bloated sector, restricting new capacity growth and forcing outdated and polluting capacity to close, but new plants have continued to go into operation.