China's crude steel output falls marginally in Oct'20 amid environmental restrictions

China's crude steel output fell marginally in Oct'20 to 92.2 mn t, slipping 0.4% from a month earlier as production was curtailed by environmental restrictions and an easing demand outlook for winter. Though slightly down from Sep month, the number showed a 13% jump from Oct'19.

Factors that led to marginal slip the crude steel output:

• Golden Week holiday: Chinese steel market had been on a week-long Golden Week holiday (1st Oct-8th Oct) cutting short the number of working days during the month of Oct. The market activities took another 3 days to pick-up the pace further reducing the active days in the month.
  
  
• Production dented by environmental curbs: Production at steel mills are typically disrupted by the country's 'winter cuts' - from November to March, with plants failing to meet environmental requirements being forced to curb their output. The Tangshan govt has ordered mills falling under B and C category for reducing their blast furnace, sintering and kiln related activities by about 45%. The tenure has been since Sep '20 until Mar '21 on account of winter-autumn production curbs to reduce air-pollution during the period.From Jan 20 - Oct 20, China has churned out 873.93 mn t of crude steel, up 5.5% from the CPLY.
  The China Iron and Steel Association said in October it sees China's crude steel output exceeding 1 bn t in 2020 as the recovered downstream sector fueled consumption.