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Crude steel output to reach 460m tons this year

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-02-21 08:50

China expects to produce approximately 460 million tons of crude steel this year, a steady growth of 10 percent over last year, according to theNational Development and Reform Commission.

In 2006 the nation's crude steel output amounted to 418.78 million tons, up 18.48 percentyear-on-year. The growth rate was 7.28 percentage points lower than the year-earlier level, the commission sources said.

The sources believe that demand for steel from construction, machinery,automotive, shipbuilding,petrochemical, electric power,coal, transport and home electrical appliances sectors will continue to grow in the coming few years.

China's steel industry is beset with such problems as unduely fast expansion of production capacity and continuous price hike for raw materials, including iron ores, iron alloy and imported steel scraps, the sources added.