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China Nov crude steel output fall on weak margins, demand

China's crude steel output in November slid 4.3% from October, main data revealed on Monday, dampened by falling steel margins and seasonally weakening downstream steel consumption.

The world's largest steel manufacturer produced 78.4 million metric lots of unrefined steel last month, down from 81.88 million heaps in October, data from the National Bureau of Statistics ( NBS) showed.

The volume last month was up 2.5% from a year previously, the data showed.

The month's everyday output averaged about 2.61 million lots, compared to 2.64 million lots in October and 2.54 million loads in November 2023, according to Reuters calculations based on the data.

Around a half of steel mills were operating at a profit by completion of November, compared to about two-thirds in late October, data from consultancy Mysteel revealed.

December output is expected to fall further as some mills have actually begun annual upkeep on furnaces amid diminishing downstream demand, experts said.

Output in the very first 11 months of 2024 slipped 2.7% on the year to 929.19 million lots, the bureau said.

(source: Reuters)