NBS: China 2022 steel output down 2.1% to 1.01 bln t

For 2022, China, the world's largest steelmaking country, posted a 2.1% on-year decline in its crude steel output to total 1.013 billion tonnes, as against the 2.8% dip in 2021, according to the latest data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday.

Behind the further on-year decline in China's crude steel output in 2022 was the fact that many domestic mills had reined in their production in response to squeezed profit margins as finished steel prices had dropped markedly since mid-June last year, said a Shanghai-based analyst. As for December alone, China