World crude steel production reached 161.7 million tonnes in July 2021, up 3.3 percent from a year earlier, the World Steel Association reported in August. It was the second consecutive monthly fall in absolute terms, after June, as China's output curbs took hold. Chinese production dropped 8.4 percent year on year to 86.8 million tonnes, the first annual decline for the country in the current cycle, and down from 99.5 million tonnes in May. Production outside China continued to recover, but not enough to offset the Chinese fall. In the first seven months of 2021, world output was still up strongly, and China had produced 648.33 million tonnes, up 8.0 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The July figures confirmed the shift in the market: the constraint on global supply was now policy in Beijing, not demand, and raw material prices began to reflect the weaker Chinese appetite, with iron ore starting its long slide from the May peak.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News — https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/global-steel-july-production-up-even-as-china-output-drops/
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