Workers at a steel factory in Dalian, Liaoning province. [Photo/China Daily]

BEIJING -- China's steel production continued to rise in May due to recent price gains, official data showed Monday.

Crude steel output stood at 70.5 million tons in May, up 1.8 percent year on year and rising 1.5 percent month on month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The production rebound is partly due to recent increases of the steel price, which spurred many plants to increase production, said Sheng Laiyun, NBS spokesperson.

This pointed to the difficulty of cutting overcapacity, a key task of the country's ongoing supply-side reform, which the government will continue to push forward, Sheng added.

Total steel production in the first five months of this year dropped 1.4 percent year on year, NBS data showed.

China, the world's largest steel producer and consumer, plans to cut steel capacity by about 10 percent -- as much as 150 million tons of steel -- in the next few years with funds set aside to help redundant workers.