Chinese crude steel production rose 3% from 49.43 million metric tonnes in June to 50.68 million tonnes in July. This is 13% higher than July 2008 production.
Net finished steel exports became positive after three negative months due to a 27% rise in finished exports to 1.81 million tonnes and a lower rise in finished imports to 1.74 million tonnes. To put this in perspective, finished steel exports were 7.21 million tonnes in July 2008 and finished steel imports were 1.44 million tonnes.
July apparent domestic consumption reached 48.36 million tonnes.