BEIJING,
Jan 17 (Reuters) - China's
crude steel output in 2023 was flat from a year earlier, official data showed
on Wednesday, steadying after two consecutive years of decline, as mills ramped
up production to generate cashflow and faced fewer emissions curbs.
The world's largest
steel producer manufactured approximately 1.02 billion metric tons of the
ferrous metal last year, data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS) showed.
Beijing's introduction
of a cap on steel output to reduce carbon emissions had caused output to drop 3% in 2021 and 1.7% in 2022.
The absence of such
caps in 2023, when priority was placed on supporting the
economy and reviving
the ailing property sector, contributed to a stabilising of steel output,
according to analysts.
Robust demand from the shipbuilding,
solar photovoltaic and automotive sectors
partially offset a shortfall
in demand from the
property sector, offering
support to steel in 2023, Citi analysts said in a note.
Output of steel reinforcing
bar (rebar), mainly used in the construction sector, fell 2.2% from a year
earlier to 209.74 million tons in the first 11 months of 2023, official data
showed.
Crude
steel production in December extended its decline into a fifth consecutive
month, falling by 11.4%
from November to 67.44 million tons, the lowest monthly output since
December 2017, according to the NBS data.
An increasing
number of Chinese steelmakers implemented maintenance on blast furnaces last
month amid mounting pressure from either environmental protection-related
production restrictions or widening losses, analysts said.
The December total equated to about 2.18 million
tons of average daily output, according to a Reuters calculation based on the
data.